Shelter 4 animal suggestions

[Sprouting0uch!]

I know this was released recently but I've got some ideas for the animals in the next game.
Mountain lion aka cougar: They live alone, and are cool animals. I also thought it was a missed chance to put mountain lions as a predator in Shelter 2: Mountains
Polar bear: I realize it's an apex, but they have hard lives with climate change and melting season and polluted seals.
Black bear: They're being attacked by grizzly bears a lot. And I was thinking it could be a Spirit Bear which are a white variety and commonly poached, so that could be a thing. And if it isn't a Spirit Bear, coat varieties would be nice because they can have brown and blond coats.
Doing some more suggestions! Credit to all the people who commented for most of these.
Fox: It would be in a similiar climate to the first two games, but it'd be nice.
Coyote: Same thing with fox.
Some form of ape or monkey: Preferably an African type, as we had Asian elephants for Shelter 3.
Birds: Owls, falcons, hawks, or eagles preferably. A falcon or hawk in the city would be an interesting setting, as they've been known to live on skyscrapers.
Seals: Would be a nice addition, especially since they're an underwater animal.
Elk: It would be neat to outrun wolves.
Wild horses: Again, same thing with coyote and fox.

[friendly]

Something that hunts and moves quickly, not sure how easy flying and a more open world would be for them. But wolves and eagles were both high up on these votes every year.

[Jynn]

cougar sounds too similar to lynx for me

fox could be cool though eh?

[SilentNight]

i'd rather have an owl to see and test if they can make night darker and more scary and also make more birds. just a bird landscape with animals that you can see on the ground

you can land and what not... but it wouldn't be safe.
i'd also love to be able to take care of either eagle or owl chicks during shelter 4. it'd be so fun to have a more open world gameplay and stuff. i really want to see if my motherly bird skills work well :')

[Burdmich]

I'd like to see how an urban coyote would play out. Living on the border or a city, having to protect your pups from the dangers of people, cars and dogs.

[AveryCF]

Eagle, owl, or another bird:
I think the whole eagle or owl idea would be cool, as it'd be a completely different element, having to add to the flight mechanic on top of what's already experienced for eagle players in Meadow. That, and if they wanted to throw in an easter egg, perhaps the ending of Shelter 1 could hint or even lead off into the eagle option for Shelter 4? I know it's sad, but i'd like to see a connection to the games like that. In Shelter 1, you already had your badger pups born, while in Shelter 2, you do the brief scary run in the beginning for safety before having your cubs. (And if you pan the camera around and pay attention, you can even see mother lynx/Inna is actually pregnant during these moments vs. it just claiming she is, as she is much thinner after your cubs are born.) So what's to say the intro can't start with a cut scene of the mother eagle bringing her chicks some food, like how Shelter 1 ends after the credits, instead of waiting for eggs to hatch?

A bear:
While I like the idea you could go the Paws route with the bear, and perhaps show them growing up, or just grown up like the time skip from Paws to Shelter 2 where Inna is just grown. (Thus, never getting an answer on what happened to the bear between games, if you picked the ending with your friend/found family over your born family.) I feel that the whole... Woodland aspect has been overused, now? The setting for Shelter 1 is similar to Shelter 2, except for where you are in the food chain. You still see frogs, the eagle, etc. and naturally this carried over into Meadow which isn't a bad thing! However it has been around for a bit. Shelter 3 is a nice change of pace, going to a completely different climate along with animals. So if they did go the bear route, instead of my loved idea of having our Paws friend returning with their own game, i'd have to say the polar bear route sounds more fun with unique challenges.

Coyote or fox:
-These are just my opinions however, thinking about what others have said... I do like the coyote or fox ideas, but I feel the fox falls under that "similar climate areas" aspect i'd like to see changed up, and the coyote? I'm not sure if Might and Delight would go towards the city, since nature seems to play a big element in the games vs. what humanity has ruined for a lot of animals. (Although light things, like seals sick from oil spills and stuff, sounds interesting, as you'd get the idea without too much "Human" stuff being in the games element. To add on, it'd be great to help spread awareness to one of sadly many endangered animals due to climate change and Human pollution...)
Not hating on these ideas though! Once again, these are just my thoughts, simply because i'm not sure what i'd suggest myself. I love seeing the ideas others have. ;3;

Cougar or wolf:
(Just realized after a small edit that I didn't cover the cougar idea, but I sadly have to agree that I feel it's too similar to a lynx since we already had a feline POV. (Even if they are drastically different sizes and hunt slightly different prey due to this.) Maybe a wolf- but I think there's already quite a few wolf simulation games out there due to the animals popularity. So unless Might and Delight did their usual artistic twist with a beautiful story, i'd rather other animals got the spotlight. ;3; )

In short:
So far a bird (Even if it's not the eagle! Or AN eagle as different breeds can range from all kinds of climates, all over the world!) POV wins my interest, as I feel it'd give off a different kind of game play all over from climate, animals we may see, movement/game play, possibly no people interaction (Or maybe distant off the map houses that we can see but not actually interact with, just for visual aesthetics.), no similarity to anything played before, not an overused/overly popular concept for too many games so it's relatively fresh and new, some developer experience from Meadow practice, etc. I'd love to hear more suggestions, however!
-Also... Not hating on wolves and wolf games, btw. I absolutely adore Wolf Quest and have played for over a decade, and I totally dropped some DLC cash down just to play the old man wolf in Meadow, lol. I'm just thinking for a whole new game, might be nice to not get ANOTHER wolf game unless Might and Delight really threw a crazy twist up in the air with their delightful *bu dumb tiss* stories they always tell us. ;3;

-If you took the time to read my thoughts, thank you very much. <3

[Wallflower]

I'd absolutely love an owl next game, imagine having to survive as one, how fun that would be. Or an elk, apart of a massive herd. With wolves, hunters, bears, natural disasters

[Jellybee]

Wild horses would be cool

[Bitch Boy]

I would love to see how they would do an underwater or at least partially underwater animal, some cool ideas could be sharks, seals, octopus, penguins or dugongs.

Or just more less common animals. I've always loved the first game for featuring badgers, who are cool as ♥♥♥♥ but not appreciated nearly as much as they should be, I think it would be awesome if they featured more underappreciated animals like they originally did rather than going with something more mundane like foxes or wolves (not saying foxes and wolves aren't cool tho!)

[[BRE] Anara de Garamont]

Honey Badgers could have bigger dangers like lions and hyenas while being a small murder machine

[Infinite]

Penguin can be awesome, they have to travel alot and face many danger

[Jynn]

above all else, regardless of animal, i'd just like to see a shelter game that is open world like shelter 2

[GaMERCaT]

I personally would love to see penguins - the Tundra/snow in Shelter 2 and Paws was beautiful, and penguins have the struggles of both on-land and in-water predators. Though tbh I just want to see a leopard seal, or any seal really, in the Shelter art style (and I don't know enough about them rearing their pups to say I'd like to play as a seal parent xP). Also, southern lights <3

[Timeless]

Honestly seeing a thylacine would be nice, its pretty different from other things we've seen from Shelter games.

[AveryCF]

Originally posted by dukiebuddy:

Honestly seeing a thylacine would be nice, its pretty different from other things we've seen from Shelter games.

I have to agree, and it would be dabbling in recently extinct animals. I don't see why we need realistic elements when spirits and speaking to the stars have always been a core part of the Shelter world. <3 (Plus mammoths have shown up in Shelter 2 and Paws which have been extinct longer.)

[Wheelie Gamer]

woud anyone else love to see pallas cats? i fell in love with this cat wild breed when i found them on google, theyre wild,tiny but fierce. honey badgers-as mentioned already by another poster woud be a fab addition to.