Today we continue the pet-oriented tour of Cataclysm zones with brief reviews of the changes to Ashenvale and Stonetalon Mountains.

Before you start the tour, you should read the disclaimers and caveats in the Cataclysm Safari: Intro.

Ashenvale

Surprisingly little has changed in Ashenvale in the way of pets.

This is surprising because there have been a large number of landscape changes — although the changes are not as severe as those in Darkshore — and … shall we say political changes? Ashenvale is a much more contentious zone than it was before.

But the pet changes are pretty minimal. Many creatures dropped in level just a tad to match the new, slightly narrower, 20-25 range for the zone. And many others saw no changes at all.

Only one pet was removed entirely: the Giant Ashenvale Bear which was really just a higher level version of the Elder Ashenvale Bear. In exchange, Ashenvale picked up a new bear: the Shady Nook Guardian. These bears — surprise! — guard the Shady Nook. And they look just like the Elder Ashenvale Bears.

Ashenvale also got a new boar, but only for Alliance hunters. Stable Master Lursa in Zoram’Gar Outpost has a black boar named Targol which is friendly to the Horde but can currently be tamed by the Alliance.

Stonetalon Mountains

But if nothing much changed in Ashenvale, Stonetalon Mountains make up for it. There are a decent number of new beastly additions in this zone, and quite a few removals as well.

First off: Remember Webwinder Path and all those green tarantulas, capped off with the enormous orange tarantula Besseleth? Well, Besselth is gone, replaced by Queen Silith the jungle spider. Unfortunately Silith is currently flagged as a humanoid, but I’m hoping that’s a bug. (Hah! A bug! Get it?)

The other spiders in Webwinder Path have changed too. The spider eggs that used to litter the Path are gone so you can no longer burst them to release Deepmoss Hatchlings and the ocassional Deepmoss Matriarch.

But Deepmoss Venomspitters are still around — and still green — while Deepmoss Creepers have turned grey and Deepmoss Webspinners have changed into orange tarantulas. The Webspinners have an interesting trick: they hang upside down from the trees in the area and drop down on you when you walk underneath them.

The mountains around the edges of Stonetalon are inhabited by brown Kalimdor Eagles. The eagles can’t currently be tamed, but as I mentioned in the intro I wouldn’t worry about that yet. (Yes, I am going to keep saying that.) And my personal favorite cat, the Twilight Runner, can still be found in the glade at Stonetalon Peak.

Unfortunately, all of the chimaeras appear to have been removed from Stonetalon. Brown chimaeras can still be found in Azshara, however.

And finally: the most interesting new Stonetalon addition has to be the Emerald Spirit. These are partially transparent jade owls — like an Emerald Skytalon from Dragonblight except more ghostly. And level 26. I’ve picked one up already on the beta realm and plan on taming one first thing after launch. They really are just gorgeous.

So that’s Ashenvale and Stonetalon Mountains. Next up, Durotar, Azshara and the Northern Barrens.