Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
If one had to compile a list of the most famous and beautiful birds on the planet, the Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus), commonly known to most people simply as the peacock, would most likely be included on it. Here we shall examine the 2008 Safari Ltd.
Angus cattle are a breed of beef cattle regarded as having some of the highest quality beef available. If you’ve ever perused the beef aisles at the supermarket you’ve no doubt noticed that when a cut of beef comes from Angus cattle, it is marketed as such. It is one of the few types of beef where the breed it comes from is acknowledged and used to advertise the product.
Everyone’s favorite herbivorous carnivoran, the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is also the most herbivorous species of carnivoran, with over 60 species of bamboo making up over 99% of its diet. The giant panda lives across six mountain ranges located in China, a sliver of its former range which once extended into southwest China, Myanmar, and north Vietnam.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Practically everyone has heard of the killer whale or orca (Orcinus orca), but probably not about the many different types that known to roam the world’s oceans. Perhaps the most mysterious of all them is the Type D killer whale, which inhabits sub-Antarctic waters between latitudes 40 degrees South and 60 degrees South.
I have recently reacquired the Safari Ltd. Insects TOOB and thought I would showcase it for the Blog. There have been at least three (maybe more) iterations of this TOOB over the years, with I believe the first version coming out in 2004. At some point (I don’t know what year) Safari also released a glow-in-the-dark version of the TOOB.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome) is a small crested penguin that inhabits small sub-Antarctic islands as well as the lower tip of South America. Some experts consider there to be three species: eastern, northern, and southern. Others, however, argue that these are just varieties of the same species.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
One of Australia’s most famous and recognizable birds is the laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae). A member of the kingfisher family, its native range covers all of the eastern side of Australia, but it has also been introduced to the lower western tip of the continent and to the island of Tasmania.
The howler monkeys of the genus Alouatta are among the largest and most widespread of new world monkeys and are famed for their loud vocalizations, among the loudest of all terrestrial animals. With the aid of an enlarged hyoid bone the guttural howls of these monkeys can be heard up to 3 miles (4.8 km) away.
The Safari Ltd. wallaby was released in 2016 and sculpted by Doug Watson. Although currently available on Safari’s website it has been perpetually on sale for some time, which likely means it has been retired and is being cleared out. Let’s take a closer look at it and see if it’s worth grabbing before it’s gone.
In following the trends of Safari Ltd.’s Tennessee Aquarium Salamander, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Marsh Education Fish collections, I am going to attempt to finish, or assist in finishing, Safari’s Hidden Kingdom Smithsonian Insects collection (the lubber grasshopper, black widow, and flea have already been reviewed). If I remember correctly, the figures were originally produced by Safari in the late 1990s alongside a traveling museum exhibit sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution that featured large animatronic insects.
A few years ago, I reviewed the CollectA woodland caribou for the holiday season and since I’m a one-figure-per-species collector I thought I would be done with caribou aka reindeer after that. But here I am again with another figure of the same species, again for the holiday season. Why? Well, I got this idea in my head that for Rangifer tarandus I might want to collect some of its many subspecies.
I do not engage in the ‘wishes and wants’ and ‘predictions’ threads on the forums. For one reason, I like to be surprised, and I find it more rewarding when something is announced that wasn’t expected. Secondly, is that many people’s wishes and wants tend to be really obscure things that have a low probability of getting produced, thus resulting in disappointment when official announcements are made.
