Review and photographs by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
With their super-long necks and equally long limbs, giraffes are among evolution’s most wondrous marvels. It was long thought that there was only one species and nine subspecies, but a 2007 study proposed that there may be six species (at the very least genetic populations), including the reticulated giraffe, Giraffa reticulata.
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.
Review of the 2019 Primates TOOB by Safari Ltd. I had bought this set early on when I started my Synoptic Collection, mainly for the marmoset and tamarins. I have since retained the bonobo and sifaka too, pending eventual release of standard-sized figures of these species. This TOOB is another example of Safari Ltd recently upping the game in their TOOB sets, with others being Whales (2018), Dolphins (2019), Great Lakes (2020), African Savannah (2020), and Pelagic Fishes (2019).
It’s a bit of a chunky boi
Today I’m looking at a figure of a very familiar animal–from a rather obscure line! It’s the famous (infamous?) wolverine, Gulo gulo (Linnaeus, 1758). If we want to be really sub-specific, it’s meant to be Gulo gulo gulo, the Eurasian wolverine, if the differences between Eurasian and North American populations are different enough.
The warthog, Phacochoerus africanus, or the common warthog to use its full vernacular name, is a wild member of the Suidae or pig family. There are four subspecies in the genus, each occupying a slightly different range within in central Africa. Schleich have made several figures of this animal, two boars (an early release and a later version), one sow, and a piglet, but I’m not looking at the whole family today – just the warthog piglet.
Review and photos by Saarlooswolfhound; edited by bmathison1972
The Mojo Fun reindeer adult and calf, numbers #387186 and #387188 respectively, were released as new products in 2019. They are included in Mojo Fun’s Wildlife range of models. The adult measures at about L-13 W-7 H-13 cm and the calf is L-9 W-2 H-6 cm.
Review and photographs by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The word “sloth” means slowness, laziness, indolence, or a habitual disinclination to exertion, and looking at the arboreal South American mammals called sloths, one might think that they fit their name to a tee. But while sloths are indeed slow-moving, they are not at all lazy.
It’s the holiday season and what better way to celebrate on the ATB than by looking at one of the North Pole’s most recognizable animals? The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) occurs throughout the arctic and sub-arctic seas where they’re divided into two sub-species, the Atlantic walrus (O.
Review and photographs by Isidro; edited by bmathison1972
Editor’s note: It gives me great pleasure to present the 100th post on the Animal Toy Blog! And our first by forum member, Isidro! Double congratulations!
Here’s the review of the CBIOV takin (Budorcas taxicolor). CBIOV is not a big brand and as far as I know it only produced two species in figure form: the takin and the finless porpoise.
Review and photographs by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Spider monkeys, which belong to the genus Ateles, live in the jungles of Central and South America. They derive their popular name from their long, spindly limbs and prehensile tail. Such adaptations make them superbly agile climbers despite their relatively large size.
Australia, like all islands, is an isolated laboratory of sorts, one that offers a look at what the world might be like under different evolutionary pressures. The rest of the world at large operates in much the same way, no matter where you go; the placental mammals (cats, dogs, deer, antelope, etc.) dominate top tier niches.
Review and photographs by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
In Africa, the top land predator is the iconic lion. In Asia, it is the royal tiger. And in Central and South America, the tenacious jaguar (Panthera onca) reigns supreme at the top of the food chain.
Schleich’s most recent take on the jaguar came out in 2017.
Normally I wouldn’t do back-to-back posts, but we had our first real snow this weekend, so I took advantage of the situation to snap up some pics of a figure that in real life would be at home in such an environment: the Arctic hare, Lepus arcticus. This figure was produced by Safari Ltd.
Pangolins are a peculiar group of mammals of the Pholidota
order. Superficially they resemble anteaters and are often called “scaly
anteaters” but they’re not at all closely related to them. Their closest living
relatives are actually carnivorans (cats, dogs, bears, seals, weasels, hyenas,
etc.) and together they belong to the Ferae clade.
Review and photos by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
At one time, the American bison (Bison bison) might well have been the most numerous large land animal on the entire planet, with an estimated 60 million roaming the grasslands of North America. But thanks to a combination of overhunting, bovine disease contracted from cattle, and sheer slaughter as part of the US government’s campaign to subjugate the Plains Indians, only 541 bison remained by 1889.
