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
The frilled lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii), also known as the frill-necked lizard or frilled dragon, is one of Australia’s most famous animals, right up there with the saltwater crocodile, dingo, wombat, koala, and kangaroo. Active in the daytime, it spends most of its time in the trees foraging for insects and other small animals.
The Everglades is a subtropical and tropical wetland spanning 7,800 square miles (20,000 km2) in central and south Florida in the United States. Water from the Kissimmee River south of Orlando feeds into Lake Okeechobee and then continues south into Florida Bay. Although mostly marsh and flooded grassland the Everglades also run through cypress swamps, hardwood hammocks, pinelands, coastal prairies, and mangrove forests.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Happy Shark Week! For a change, instead of reviewing a shark for this year, I will be reviewing a selected group of sea animals with a shark included, of course.
An introduction to Animal Heavenly Body. They are a Chinese company, akin to a mix of PNSO and Haolonggood with a hint of Popmart, which focuses on modern animals with some stylized features with them.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Ranging from southern Canada all the way down to Argentina, rattlesnakes are a large group of pit vipers famous and feared for their venom and their rattling tails. Despite their negative reputation, they are in truth important predators of rodents, helping to balance ecosystems and prevent crop damage.
The common wall lizard, Podarcis muralis, is familiar lacertid that occurs in Central and Southern Europe, from northwestern Spain to the Black Sea of Turkey. They can be found in a wide variety of habitats, from coastal plains to high-altitude mountains, with a preference for rocky microhabitats. Because of this, they have become well adapted to urban and suburban settings, where they live among rocky structures, rubble, and debris.
Every now and then an interesting figure comes along of seemingly unknown origin. This is often the case with figures from China and Japan, the former of which are often referred to as ‘Chinamals’. Such appeared to be the case recently when forum member Kikimalou posted an interesting figure of a pygmy spiny-tailed skink on the STS forum.
For my next October review I will be giving a brief overview of the entire 3D Dangerous Sea Creatures Pictorial Book collection by The Access (also known as Access Toys), which was released just a couple months ago this past August 2023. I was originally going to just review the jellyfish, but was convinced to review the whole set by forum member JimoAi.
Review and images by Kikimalou; edited by bmathison1972
After Schleich and Safari Ltd. in 2022, Mojö Fun is also offering its version of the famous green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, new for 2023. Until now, my collection has lacked a serious representative of the species. Initially tempted by the Safari Ltd., I finally fell for the Mojö version.
Using actual specimens to mold their toys, the company AAA has made some of the most realistic animal toys ever produced in plastic. Some of them are so convincing in their appearance that they can easily be mistaken for real animals, or taxidermy of them at least. The irony in taking this approach is that the company then often gave their toys inaccurate paintjobs and included incredibly vague names to identify them.
After discovering that Yowie figures were widely available in the United States me and my family went on a bit of a Yowie buying spree. Buying a few of the eggs just about every time we encountered them in the wild until we ended up getting more repeats than it was worth.
In addition to being a country, Australia is also a continent, but the continent of Australia is not just composed of Australia itself. The Australian continent includes mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, the Aru Islands, the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, and most of the Coral Sea Islands as well as a smattering of other islands.
Review and images by Fembrogon; edited by bmathison1972
There’s a Gashapon for just about everyone, I’d wager. Bandai’s trademarked capsule toy brand (an onomatopoeia name for the “gacha-pon” sound of the machine crank and tumbling capsule) has been running strong for over forty years, covering just about anything that can feasibly be made into a miniature – from company mascots and popular anime characters, to erasers and food items, to even highly realistic insects and lizards.
The leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) is easily among the most popular pet reptiles in the world, and perhaps the most popular pet lizard. Entire industries exist that are dedicated to producing leopard geckos in the hundreds of different selectively bred color morphs they’re now available in and it’s unlikely that you’ll ever walk into a pet shop that doesn’t have them.
Although they look like lizards the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) of New Zealand is in fact the last living member of the order Rhynchocephalia and not a lizard at all. This order of reptiles, closely related to squamata (lizards, including snakes), had their heyday during the Mesozoic, getting their start in the mid-Triassic and achieving worldwide distribution during the Jurassic.
