Safari / ecology childs board game, collecting animal cards

Question

As a child (UK, born 1989 so playing it mid-to-late 90s I guess?) I played a game which (IIRC) centred around collecting animals from different environments.

The physical playing board was square, with I think 2 crossed pieces of card in the centre representing a mountain. In terms of playing space, the board was a circular set of playing spaces, split into quadrants representing different environments (jungle, dessert, ?savanna?, ?something else?) (possibly with playing spaces going up into the central mountain area).

I don't at all remember the nature of the game play except that it involved collecting animals from the different environments.

If anyone can identify the game, so that I can look online for a copy of it, for the nostalgia rush, I'd be really grateful :)

Answer 1

I also used to have it. Spent a while looking for it but I'm 90% sure this is the one you're looking for.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34016/explore

Answer 2

Was this the game: http://www.games-collector.com/boardgame/w/wild-life-1st-edition-1965.html

Wild Life?

Answer 3

This sounds very similar to David Attenborough's Zoo Quest.

This was a board game released about 1960 in which players travel around Africa, from desert to jungle to savannah and capture animals. The game ends when you get your animals safely to a zoo in Nairobi. The game was a tie-in to the Zoo Quest programme running on the BBC at the time.

In the version that I have played, which was bought from a charity shop, there is no cardboard mountain in the centre, but that could have been lost over time.

Answer 4

Endangered Species matches most of your criteria. It was released before the 90s, has a square board, and involves collecting animals from different environments (although each group represents a different continent, rather than a biome). However, there is no mountain in the middle, but that was the part you sounded least certain about.