Species identification thread (animal toys)

[sbell]

Ah... The bald eagle looked like to have a tan head and brown tail... maybe is effect of lighting? Both should be white. The osprey is atonishingly bad done! Certainly don't reach the usual Schleich standards...

Perhaps, but for Schleich collectors they are very hard to find and usually sought after.

[Badger]

Ah... The bald eagle looked like to have a tan head and brown tail... maybe is effect of lighting?

The osprey is atonishingly bad done!

I'm know I'm late to this, but as someone who owns that specific model, it is definitely the lighting making the head and tail appear tan. Both are fairly solidly white in reality.

As for the osprey, it is definitely the worst of their old birds of prey line*, but it seems not many have actually made an osprey ever since (which is a real shame ).


*I'd like to note here that a lot of their old birds of prey aren't even that bad, especially for their time. For example, their old Peregrine Falcon (the one with closed wings) is, in my opinion, still one of my favourite models of the species, and better than their newer attempt.

[bmathison1972]

I have been stumped for a while on this butterfly. It is a largish figure (9.0 cm wingspan). I bought it at a gift shop in a state park in Georgia years ago. Given its size, one would assume it is modeled after something specific. Two possibilities are Caligo uranus or Thauria aliris, but for both of those the white on the forewing should be a band, not a cloudy spot (and in the former, the forewings are usually more blue, but they can fade to brownish-black in old specimens).

[bmathison1972]

I have been stumped for a while on this butterfly. It is a largish figure (9.0 cm wingspan). I bought it at a gift shop in a state park in Georgia years ago. Given its size, one would assume it is modeled after something specific. Two possibilities are Caligo uranus or Thauria aliris, but for both of those the white on the forewing should be a band, not a cloudy spot (and in the former, the forewings are usually more blue, but they can fade to brownish-black in old specimens).

Kikimalou on STS suggested Eurytides ariarathes, and I like that even better.

[Advicot]

Is the new Schleich giant tortoise Galapagos or Aldabra? I want to know this because I want three of each species of tortoise I own. 

[bmathison1972]

Is the new Schleich giant tortoise Galapagos or Aldabra? I want to know this because I want three of each species of tortoise I own. 

To my knowledge they did not indicate as such. I would say see what it morphologically resembles the most and choose for yourself. Given Schleich's decline in diversity in recent years, I would personally assume Galapagos.

[Advicot]

@bmathison1972 after some digging on Schleich's website it states that the figure's home range is the pacific ocean. That must mean it's Galapagos after all 

[Badger]

It looks more like a Galapagos tortoise to me

To my knowledge they did not indicate as such. I would say see what it morphologically resembles the most and choose for yourself. Given Schleich's decline in diversity in recent years, I would personally assume Galapagos.

And, interestingly, in spite of this, Schleich is the only one of the 'Big 4' companies that have (albeit likely unintentionally) made both species. They started out with something closer to a Galapagos giant tortoise (and they made 2 variants of the sculpt in question), then retired it (in 2009) for what looked closer to an Aldrabra giant tortoise, and now they've retired that sculpt for the current one, which looks more like the species from the Galapagos.

[bmathison1972]

I don't have an Aldabra tortoise yet, but unless another one is made soon, I'd probably pursue the Colorata figure.

[endogenylove]

I have a whole host of figures I would love some species ID on. I can take additional pictures of any figures if necessary

First off, we have some amphibians. There are three obvious dart frogs, one that seems to be more of a bull or leopard frog, and the green and red one in the middle that I am most uncertain of.

The second picture is turtles. The first and last are sea turtles of some variety. I believe the middle is a snapping turtle of some sort and the yellow one by head shape alone seems to be a Mata Mata but I would like a second opinion.

Next up is birds. A toucan, a macaw, and a mysterious very old owl that appears to me a spectacled owl but I am not sure.

The next one is fish and one mysterious otter. A seahorse, a Ray, and a swordfish(?).

The next is miscellaneous invertebrates. There is a figure that I was told is a crayfish, a sea star, an octopus, A very small squid, a tarantula of some sort, and a caterpillar/grub? I am not very versed in invertebrates at all.

The last photo is other reptiles, including two crocodilians, a red and blue lizard, a chameleon, a collared lizard (?), some sort of snake, a gecko of some sort, and a lizard that reminds me of a bearded dragon.

The more specific you are willing to get the better! I have been curious about some of these for ages.

[bmathison1972]

for the invertebrates:
1. Crayfish: the size of the claws looks more like a lobster to me
2. tarantula: seems to be a from the Animal Planet Insects TOOB and was originally made by Toy Major (look for a 'TM' on the underside). As far as the ID, no hope, it is not painted as an actual species.
3. The blue starfish looks like the blue linckia, Linckia laevigata. It looks similar to the Safari TOOB figure, but not quite (maybe a knock-off).
4. The other inverts, probably no hope

Most of these look like unrealistic paint jobs on previously-used sculpts, for example the mata mata and snapping turtle.

[Isidro]

Maybe the only clear ones in the whole series are the two dart frogs. Left corner one is very clearly Dendrobates auratus while the red one with blue legs is Dendrobates pumilio. Upper right corner one belongs to genus Rana, use your favourite local species for it if you want.
The sea turtles are, as almost all these animals, generic, it's comfortable to call them green sea turtles if you want. The middle one fits better as a common snapping turtle, rather than as an alligator snapping turtle. The yellow-bordered one fits better as a matamata, related genus Phrynops can have very vaguely similar colours. You can repaint it as a matamata if you want. The toucan is a red-billed toucan clearly. The macaw you can use it as a green-winged, or a scarlet if you prefair, I guess it's less bad if used as a green-winged. The owl you can use it as any owl you want (except spectacled), as far as it have ear tufts. Your favourite or local species of scops owl could be a good option. Hippocampus kuda and Hippocampus reidi often are yellow with black tiny dots. You can use any species of ray in genus Raja as you like, Raja clavata could be a nice option. You can use the otter as an Indian or Egyptian mongoose. The swordfish is that, a swordfish, only one species in the whole family. Of course, an enormously inaccurate one, but that is common to all these models. The lobster is a cooked one. Better to use as an American lobster. To the Pacific Blue Starfish I only can add that no other starfish have this colour, but the shape is of course wrong for that species. The comfortable option for generic octopus toys is to use them as common octopus. The Safari LTD Good Luck Minis squid is supposed to be a Caribbean bigfin reef squid. The caterpillar with excessive number of segments could be used as a fantasy caterpillar from Saturniidae family. The most comfortable options for generic crocodiles is to use them always as Nile crocodiles. Agama lizards tend to be red and blue, so you may want to use it for the biggest lizard. The black-striped yellow lizard with blue head is probably meant to be a leopard gecko. Use the snake as you want, a sand viper could be a good option. Use any species of gecko for your gecko, any species of house gecko could be a reasonable option. For the bright pink lizard I agree an Inland bearded dragon is a safer option. The chamaleon may even pretend to represent a concrete species so it deserves some research.

[Advicot]

These are my opinions on your figures:

Photo One: Strawberry poison dart frog, Green and black poison dart frog and a common frog. The other two I am unsure
Photo Two: Two green sea turtles, alligator snapping turtle, mata mata. The on with the lilac shell I am unsure of
Photo Three: White-throated Toucan, scarlet macaw and possibly a great horned owl
Photo Four: Slender seahorse, marbled ray, common otter and a sailfish
Photo Five: Reef Squid and the rest I have no clue
Photo Six: Two American alligators?, mwanza flat headed agama, collared lizard and I don't know the rest

Hope it helps 

[endogenylove]

Thank you! All of your responses are enormously helpful. Some of these are from tubes, others are just figures I've picked up over the years, mostly unbranded. I figured that some of them would be completely fictional but I appreciate the effort

[Isidro]

These are my opinions on your figures:

Photo One: Strawberry poison dart frog, Green and black poison dart frog and a common frog. The other two I am unsure
Photo Two: Two green sea turtles, alligator snapping turtle, mata mata. The on with the lilac shell I am unsure of
Photo Three: White-throated Toucan, scarlet macaw and possibly a great horned owl
Photo Four: Slender seahorse, marbled ray, common otter and a sailfish
Photo Five: Reef Squid and the rest I have no clue
Photo Six: Two American alligators?, mwanza flat headed agama, collared lizard and I don't know the rest

Hope it helps 

Alligator snapping turtle: as I said fits better as a common snapping turtle rather than an alligator one. Check the thinner head and neck.
White-throated toucan: alternative common name for the same species I said, the scientific name is Ramphastos tucanus in any case.
Scarlet macaw: as I said it's maybe less striking as a green-winged macaw, but you can use as any of the two species if you want.
Great horned owl: almost as good possibility as the scops owl for this generic fantasy owl figurine.
Slender seahorse: common name of one of the two most probable species I purposed, Hippocampus reidi. Others can't be excluded.
Marbled ray: Marbled electric ray (Torpedo marmorata), marbled stingray (Taeniurops meyeni) or what? Both have the wrong shape for this figurine and as I said it intends to be a Rajidae.
Sailfish: Seriously??? You can say marlin instead swordfish despite the plain colour, but... sailfish??
American alligators: as good suggestion as the Nile crocodile. Any crocodilian in the world can be used for these fantasy figures
Mwanza flat-headed agama: as good as most other Agama spp.
Collared lizard: that's the author suggestion too, but look at the tail. I'm sure its sculpted after a leopard gecko (but of course with inaccurate/fantasy paintjob, as most of these figures)

I'm glad you appear here again my friend

[valmont]

Hi!

Can anyone help me to identify these "lizards"?  They are from Nayab, but I can't find a list of the species.

[Lanthanotus]

Well, the sculpting ranges from quite good to mediocore but the paint jobs are horrid....my guesses would be:
1. Giant Salamander (Chinese or Japanese)
2. Triceros jacksonii
3. dunno, maybe some sort of skink
4. Phrynosoma sp.
5. Leiocephalus sp.
6. some random agamid lizard
7. Triturus cristatus
8. Chlamydosaurus kingii
9. some iguanid or agamid lizard, maybe Gonocephalus
10. Basiliscus plumifrons
11. should probably represent Gecko gecko
12. Varanus komodoensis

[valmont]

Well, the sculpting ranges from quite good to mediocore but the paint jobs are horrid....my guesses would be:
1. Giant Salamander (Chinese or Japanese)
2. Triceros jacksonii
3. dunno, maybe some sort of skink
4. Phrynosoma sp.
5. Leiocephalus sp.
6. some random agamid lizard
7. Triturus cristatus
8. Chlamydosaurus kingii
9. some iguanid or agamid lizard, maybe Gonocephalus
10. Basiliscus plumifrons
11. should probably represent Gecko gecko
12. Varanus komodoensis

Thanks for your help. I agree, the quality is quite poor. I'll try to repaint once I have identified them

[sirenia]

Doing a review of the AAA Deer and trying to identify the species. Can anyone help?

[bmathison1972]

@sirenia here is the AAA page for deer on TAI: http://toyanimal.mywikis.net/wiki/AAA_Deer

looks like yours might be a fallow deer, because of the spots. But a lateral shot would be more helpful for me/us.