Green Sea Turtle, 2017 (Wild Safari Sealife by Safari Ltd.)

Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972

The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is perhaps the most typical of the seven species of sea turtle. Its seemingly incongruous name derives from the colour of the fat beneath its shell.

The 2017 Safari Ltd green sea turtle is sculpted with its head turned to the left, its powerful front flippers spread wide apart, and its hind flippers swept back, which makes it 10.5 cm wide by 10.5 cm long. It could either be swimming through the ocean blue, or, if you wish to pretend it’s a female, pulling itself up onto a beach to lay a clutch of eggs.

The top of the turtle’s head, flippers, and tail are dark brown, which gradually fades to very pale yellow on the underside. The eyes are pitch black. The carapace is painted a rich medium brown with beige for the seams between the scutes, while the plastron is entirely pale yellow. Overall, it’ i quite a nice paint job, but I do wish that the seams between the scales on the head and limbs had been painted as well. Some streaks or markings on the carapace also would have been nice.

The detailing, however, is definitely top notch. The aforementioned scales are meticulously sculpted and give this sea turtle an air of durability and strength. The edges of the flippers are ragged, which further adds to this look. The carapace is correctly sculpted, with five central scutes surrounded by four pairs of lateral scutes and a ring of small scutes along the rim. The scutes composing the plastron also appear to be accurate. While such armour might look impermeable at first, tiger sharks’ strong jaws and specialized teeth enable them to bite through it. Fortunately, they seem to prefer feeding on dead or weakened green turtles as opposed to healthy ones.

Two rather glaring inaccuracies can be observed on this toy’s head. First, the eyes should be much larger and almond-shaped as opposed to round. And second, the bill should be shorter and more rounded. Green turtle hatchlings are carnivorous, feeding on small invertebrates like crustaceans, worms, and jellyfish. By contrast, adults are largely herbivorous, with sea grass being their most important food. They usually weigh around 181 kg (400 lbs), but the largest known specimen weighed more than twice that!

While it has some inaccuracies, this green sea turtle is still a pretty good toy. It must also be noted that, unlike most Safari toys, this one floats in water, which makes it one of my older son’s favourite bathtub playthings. Recommended overall.