Devlog: the animals of the island

Your camp is the heart of Citrus & Stone, but the island around it isn't empty. Most of the animals on it are real island species, and each one acts a bit like the real thing. Here's who you'll run into.

Two that will follow you home

The lemur. A ring-tailed lemur turns up somewhere in the forest every day, in a new spot. It calls every so often, so you can usually find it by ear. In the morning it sits with its arms out to sunbathe, like real ring-tails do. Walk over with a banana and it gets excited and comes to meet you. Give it the banana and it's yours: it walks behind you, sits with you when you stop, waits on the shore while you're out on the water and falls asleep next to you at night. Press E (or A on a controller) to pet it.

The red panda. It works the same way, but it's pickier. Each day it wants one particular shore fish, and it tells you which: "Mrrk? Ocellaris Clownfish?" Bring the wrong one and you get "Hff! Not that one." Now and then it stands up on its hind legs with its arms out, the classic red panda pose.

Keep an eye on them during a raid. A mushroom that hits you can grab your pet and run off with it. Knock that mushroom out in time and you get your friend back.

The gorilla in the birch woods

Somewhere in a clearing in the birch woods sits a silverback. Talk to him and he tells you exactly what he wants: "I need coconut and banana." Bring both and he says "Both Good", beats his chest and tosses you the Silverback Rod.

That rod matters. Most of the big open-ocean fish are too strong for the normal rod, and the fight turns brutal. The Silverback Rod makes every fight a bit easier and lasts twice as long. Rods wear out eventually, so you'll be back with more fruit.

On the beach

Coconut crabs. Blue and red coconut crabs live around the palms. They climb the trunk, snip a coconut down, carry it off and bang it open on the sand before they eat. Get too close and they put their claws up. The brave ones scuttle off sideways; the shy ones dig into the sand until only their eyes and antennae poke out.

Three kinds of iguana.

• The green iguana flares the flap under its chin at you and bobs its head. Keep coming and it runs into the sea and swims away, which is exactly what real green iguanas do.
• The Allen Cays rock iguana comes from a few small cays in the Bahamas, where they walk right up to visitors hoping for a snack. In the game it trots over and follows you around for a while.
• Marine iguanas lie around in twos and threes, sneeze out sea salt every so often and can't be bothered to run. Step on one and it shuffles aside.

Sea turtles. Little green sea turtles crawl along the sand and leave flipper tracks behind them. Then they head into the sea, swim about and come up for a breath now and then. You can pet them.

In the forest

The sloth. This is a pygmy three-toed sloth, a real species that lives on just one small island off Panama. It hangs on the hickory trunks, turns round to look at you, yawns and scratches, and sometimes climbs down for a slow crawl along the floor. Get close and it squeaks and scurries up into the leaves. You can watch the canopy shake as it moves off.

Snakes. Four real island snakes live in the forest, and each one reacts to you the way the real one would:

• The Guadeloupe racer slithers off fast.
• The brown tree snake rears up into an S and hisses. It comes out at dusk and at night.
• The Bahamian pygmy boa rolls into a tight ball with its head tucked in, and waits for you to leave.
• The golden lancehead holds its ground in a striking coil.

They can't hurt you, but a strike will knock you back.

Birds, frogs and butterflies. By day, parrots, toucans and scarlet macaws fly in and land in the forest, and herons wade along the shore. Walk at them and they take off. Five kinds of little frog hop through the undergrowth, and they stay out in the rain and at night when the birds have gone. Butterflies drift between the plants and fold their wings on a leaf when it rains.

After dark. Glowbugs come out at night and flash in ripples through the trees, and a spectacled owl comes out to hunt, its yellow eyes catching the light.

In the water

There are 19 kinds of fish to catch, from the shore and from the boat. You can see their shadows circling under the water before they bite. Further out, jellyfish drift past: moon jellies that glow at night, striped sea nettles, Portuguese man o' war and little fleets of by-the-wind sailors. Keep an eye out for dolphins and flying fish too.

See them move

Short clips of the island go up on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.