Can Leonida's wildlife live up to Red Dead Redemption 2?

One line from Game Informer's cover reveal has been stuck in my head since Friday: a "staggering amount of wildlife, native and otherwise", on land, in the air and at sea. Issue 382 goes live today, so we should finally get the details (our news post).

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the bar here. Animals had routines, ran off when you were loud, hunted each other, and the compendium kept you glued to your binoculars for hours. GTA has never really gone past seagulls, dogs and the odd deer on Mount Chiliad.

So far Leonida has mostly shown us alligators: one wandering into a store in the first trailer, and one lying on the dock in this official Grassrivers screenshot. The Extended Look also has binoculars with a zoom prompt. None of that confirms an RDR2 style compendium or study system, and Rob Nelson's hunting and fishing comments are still a TGG report, not something Rockstar has published.

"Otherwise" reads like invasive species to me. Burmese pythons are a real mess in the actual Everglades, and that's exactly the kind of thing Rockstar loves to parody. That's my guess, though, not theirs.

Personally I want the animals to get in the way. A gator crossing the road mid chase beats a hundred background birds. Do you want wildlife that actually affects play, or is scenery fine? And would a Red Dead style compendium feel right in a GTA, or is that too much?

If weather is more your thing, the hurricane thread is over here.