No other extant animal captures the essence of the wild like the lion. It is without a doubt the most famous of the big cats and often referred to as “King of the Beasts”, “Lord of the Jungle” and so on.
The lion’s great strength and the male’s impressive appearance have made them popular and a staple of pop culture and the toy figure industry.
Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972
A few weeks ago, forum member Sirenia introduced Papo’s gharial to this blog, a magnificent model of an unusual and fairly unpopular crocodile. The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) enjoys a much greater popularity, though if the species really “enjoys” its popularity may be a point to discuss, as with other crocodilians it suffers from hunting and habitat loss.
Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972
When I was a child of eight or nine my dad gave us cassettes with audio plays once in a while which he brought from the big city where he worked. One of these plays was The Children of Captain Grant (or In Search of the Castaways) by Jules Verne.
One bright day in late autumn a family of ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat.
“What!” cried the ants in surprise, “haven’t you stored anything away for the winter?
The barn owl is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful birds of prey in the world. With its white, golden-ash plumage, and uncannily silent flight, there’s an otherworldly allure to these birds; undoubtedly this is why the bird is also nicknamed the ghost owl, and how it’s managed to spook many a farmer or unwary traveler throughout history.
After rodents, bats, which make up about 20% of all mammal species, form the second largest mammalian order, Chiroptera. Consequently, many bat figures (although not quite as many as the size of the group would suggest) have been made over the years, with one of the more recent attempts being Papo’s first, and so far only, bat figure, released in 2018, which is also the subject of this review.
Albatrosses, members of the family Diomedeidae, are some of the most spectacular seabirds, perfectly adapted to a life of sea and air. Albatrosses are some of the largest flying animals alive today, with the wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) having a wingspan of up to 12.2’ (3.7 meters) and weighing in excess of 20 lbs (9 kg).
The blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) is one of the most recognizable sharks, a staple in aquariums that frequents shallow coral reefs in the wild, which makes it popular among tourists and SCUBA divers. The blacktip reef shark is a generally timid species with only 11 unprovoked attacks and 21 attacks total to its name, none of them fatal.
Review and images by callmejoe3; edited by bmathison1972
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is among the most famous of all cetaceans, as it is recognized as the largest known animal currently living, and likely to have ever lived, on Earth. This whale is alternatively referred to as the ‘’sulfur-bottom’’ due to the growth of diatoms creating a yellowish pigmentation on the ventral body.
A walk-around of Papo’s Blue or Common Wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus (Burchell, 1823) from the Wild Animals line or “Les Animaux Sauvages”, originally produced in 2009. The shoulder height of this figure is 79 mm, so corresponding to a shoulder height of adult specimens between 1.18 and 1.45 m the scale would be approx.
Counted among “The Big 3”, the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) is considered one of the most dangerous sharks in the world, right alongside the great white and tiger shark. The frequency in which this species encounters humans is due to its preference for habitat that humans also enjoy, shallow warm coastal waters, estuaries, and bays.
The genus Bombus, which includes the bumble bees, consists of over 250 species worldwide. They occur in most terrestrial habitats throughout the Americas and the Palearctic, but are absent in much of Africa, the southern Middle East, much of the Indian subcontinent, Australia, and New Zealand (although they have been introduced to the New Zealand and Tasmania).
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Caimans are members of the alligator family that reside in Central and South America. There are presently six living species ranging in size from the 1.4 metre-long Cuvier’s dwarf caiman, which is the smallest living crocodilian, to the 5 metre-long black caiman, which is the largest member of Alligatoridae.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
If you had to name the most fearless and ferocious bird in the world, which one would you choose? The great horned owl, which regularly preys on hawks and other owls larger than itself? The harpy eagle, which boasts the biggest talons of any bird of prey and can carry off a 15-pound sloth?
Welcome to the spooky season series of articles! I hope you have had a nice time so far and will enjoy my contributions. My selection for my first article is the Papo “Cassis Lapdog” #54013. This model was released back in 2012 and retired in 2019. It appears to resemble a grizzled older animal with a dark coat washed with a lighter graying and special attention was given to graying brows and around the mouth of the animal.
