Cheetah Female & Cheetah Cub (Wildlife Africa by Schleich)

As if last week’s Toymany review didn’t give me enough cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) figures to share! I had this pair out for comparison pictures so decided to just go ahead and review them too. This cheetah female and cub don’t come as a set, but I figured I would review them together instead of post cheetah reviews for three weeks in a row. These two actually belong to my oldest daughter. She wanted the cub on a recent visit to Tractor Supply, and I wanted the female for my own collection. I told her that she couldn’t have just the cub, we needed the mom too.  She generally loses interest in these types of toys so I thought I could pilfer the adult figure once the novelty wore off but every time I put it on my shelf, she takes it back. Sometimes it takes a few weeks for her to notice though. When I got the Toymany set I told her she could have the entire set if she just traded me the Schleich figure. She wouldn’t do it. So, these figures remain on a shelf in her room, until I steal them back and wait for her to find them on my shelf again.

We’ll start by looking at the adult female cheetah. This figure was released in 2016 and is still in production. It presents the cat in a walking pose with a slight rightward turn in the body. The head is held level with the humped shoulders and the tail curls upward. She has a cautious look about her, which I suppose is appropriate for a predator that’s low on the totem poll in a place teaming with competition.

The figure has a head-to-body length of 3.5” (8.89 cm) and stands 2” (5.08 cm) tall at the shoulder. Cheetahs average 26–37” (67–94 cm) tall at the shoulder and have an average head-body length of 43” – 59” (1.1-1.5 meters). Using shoulder height puts the figure between 1/13 and 1/18.5 in scale.

The figure has the light build, small, rounded head, deep chest, and long legs and tail of the actual cheetah. The figure is generously spotted but there are no spots on the belly. Although some cheetahs are sparsely spotted on the underside it’s not to this degree and I had to point this out with the Toymany cheetahs as well. Black tear marks run down the face and half of the tail is banded. The back of the ears have a dark wash over them, but they should be black, and this feature is better illustrated on the Toymany cheetahs.

The fine details on the figure are exceptionally well done and part of the reason I wanted the figure. A fine coat of hair covers the body, but longer hair is sculpted over the shoulders, around the neck, and along the belly and it has a nice, layered appearance to it. Claws are sculpted (and painted) on the paws which is important because unlike other cats, cheetahs do not have retractable claws. This helps them gain traction while running. Pads are sculpted on the undersides of the feet and the application of the gray paint on them is mostly decent. 

The figure is painted pale yellow with a paler underside. The spots are black and solid and the bands on the tail alternate black and white. The nose and mouth are outlined in black, and the eyes are brown with black pupils with decent application on them. I have no real qualms with this cheetah figure and of those currently available it’s one of my favorites. Papo’s running cheetah is also nice and was a contender for my collection.

Turning our focus onto the cub, I can see why my daughter wanted it. With its floofy mantle of hair, large head, and big bright eyes, it is positively adorable. This figure was released in 2023 and measures just over 2.5” long. I won’t bother trying to scale the cub, but I will say that it doesn’t scale well with the adult.

The cub is posed in a somewhat surprised stance, pushing back on its paws and tilting upwards. Perhaps it stumbled upon something unusual while playing. It’s the same color as the mother and includes the banded tail and tear marks on the face. Tiny claws are sculpted and painted on the paws. The pupils appear to be sculpted on as little indents, which is somewhat unsettling.

Long hair is sculpted over the back in an attempt to illustrate the long hair that grows along the back of cheetah cubs, called a mantle. This fur provides camouflage and protection from the elements, and it has been suggested that it might help cheetah cubs mimic the aggressive honey badger. In life it is silver-gray in color, rather than spotted as we see here. Toymany did the same thing, and it would be nice to get an accurate cheetah cub toy from someone. Since Safari made an adolescent lion and fox kit maybe they’ll give us a cheetah cub with a proper mantle. Cubs lose their mantle at around 3 months of age, so its inclusion here indicates that this is a young cub, and far too large for its age compared to the adult.

I don’t collect baby animals but as stated, my daughter wanted this one. If I did collect baby animals then this would be a decent enough cheetah cub but as mentioned, it’s too large. The mantle might not be accurately painted but it’s at least there, making this figure a good candidate for a repaint.  Both the female and cub are currently available with the former retailing for about $8.99 and the latter for about $4.99.