One of the great tales of evolution is the whales. That tiny, tree living creatures would become gigantic, secondarily aquatic mammals is fascinating, and fills the oceans with many fine forms of cetaceans. Though whaling and ocean pollution threatens them, there are still efforts to teach the youth of today to protect and learn about them.
Classification: Whales & Dolphins
Right Whale (Wild Safari Sealife by Safari Ltd.)
4.1 (9 votes)
Walk-around of the Safari Wild Safari Sealife 2017 Right Whale, Eubalaena sp.; item No. 2042-29. Total length is approx. 233 mm so the scale is between approx. 1:47 and 1:80 for an animal of 11-18.5 m total length. Human figure (man in suit by Preiser, last image) is approx.
Gray Whale (Monterey Bay Aquarium Collection by Safari Ltd.)
4.3 (3 votes)
The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is a baleen whale that’s the sole extant member of its genus and the family Eschrichtiidae. Two populations currently live in the north Pacific, one small Asian population and a much larger population along the western coast of North America. Gray whales are near shore species and are frequently sighted along California and the Baja Peninsula.
Ganges River Dolphin (Sealife by CollectA)
5 (5 votes)
Review and photos by OkapiBoy
Before we leave Mainland Asia, I wanted to make one last detour and check out some of the largest and mightiest rivers in India and Asia.The Ganges, Indus, Yangtze, and Mekong are just some of the largest river systems that flows and crisscross the continent.Here, one would encounter one of the unlikeliest animal swimming around: dolphins.
Sperm Whale, 2018 (Sealife by CollectA)
5 (7 votes)
Review and photos by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
A truly awesome beast, the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of all extant flesh-eating animals, the second deepest diving mammal, the scourge of squid, and the inspiration behind Moby-Dick. Its unusual name is derived from the fact that its head contains a waxy substance called spermaceti, which was originally mistaken for the whale’s seminal fluid!
Humpback Whale (Sealife by CollectA)
4.3 (8 votes)
Review and photos by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Between its knobbly head, its enormous flippers, and, of course, its noticeably humped back, the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is quite unmistakable. I fondly remember seeing an entire pod of humpbacks on a whale watching trip with my family off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, way back when I was only four or five years old.
Blue Whale (British Museum: Natural History by Invicta)
4.3 (4 votes)
Oof! Two blue whale toy reviews in a row, these things happen! The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the only extant animal in the famous monochrome line produced by Invicta Ltd for the British Museum (Natural History). If you’re not familiar with this museum that’s because the museum was rebranded in the 1990s as the Natural History Museum, London.
Blue Whale, 2006 (Sealife by CollectA)
3.8 (5 votes)
Review and photos by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the biggest whale, the biggest mammal, and the biggest animal of all time, hands down. A mature adult can measure roughly the same size and length as three school buses parked end to end.
Vaquita Porpoise (Wild Safari Sea Life by Safari Ltd)
5 (5 votes)
The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) has the distinction of being the smallest and most endangered cetacean in the world. In the last 22 years the population of vaquita has dropped from 567 to roughly 10 individuals. The vaquita, like so many marine species, is not targeted specifically but ends up as bycatch in gill nets set for other species, in this case the similarly sized totoaba fish (Totoaba macdonaldi) which is itself also critically endangered.
Humpback Whale (Choco Q Animatales Series 6 by Takara and Kaiyodo)
4.7 (3 votes)
Sometimes I wonder how Kaiyodo do it! How can it be possible to squeeze so much detail into such minuscule figures, what sorcery is at play in the ChocoQ lines? The mystery Kaiyodo sculptors are clearly masters in their field, and the humpback whale figure (Megaptera novaeangliae), part of the ChocoQ Animatales series (series 6), is one such example of that mastery.
Endangered Animals–Marine TOOB (Safari Ltd)
4.3 (6 votes)
So for my next foray into Animal Toy Blog I am going to discuss a full set of ten figures from a relatively new set from Safari Ltd, released in 2017 (but I only just discovered it…go figure). I’m going to come out and say, there will be brief parts (in point format) and longer parts (paragraphs) as I will discuss the toob figures individually (save two).