In both the “Continental” and “Four Lakes” maps, the scout belonging to the AI does not move at the start, so it does not explore and does not collect herd animals.
Sometimes it takes too many minutes to start exploring, this time it started exploring at 3 minutes into the game. This can change.
UPDATE: Apparently the only way for the first starting scout to start scouting is for the AI to train another scout from the TC, once both are on the map they will both start scouting.