Common Eland (Plastic Zoo Series by Britains)

Welcome back to another “Savanah Summer”!! Over the years, companies across the globe have produced many different species, from Starlux to Safari Ltd. One of the older lines to do this is Britains, a British company that have made all sorts, from toy soldiers to farm and zoo species. They produced some very interesting species, such as this one; the common eland (Taurotragus oryx), the second largest antelope in the world, second to only the Giant Eland. Let’s see how they did!!

One thing I want to bring up is the nature of Britains figures. The older figures (50s/60s era) were metal figures made and painted with lead. When the dangers of lead were discovered, they changed to plastics like this one. The difference between the plastic and lead one is the lead one is darker in colour and different tail position. You can get either, but I would go for the plastic one for safety.

The pose is great, either eating or drinking, perfect for some great display ideas. The colours and body shape is spot on to the actual animal, can’t complain. It is fairly small, measuring 2.9″ long and 1.9″ high, not really scaling to many modern lines, but I feel you can work it well with a bit of imagination.

There are only a small handful of Common eland models out there, and this is by far the most common of them all. It may be simple, but it does work very well, and I feel it’s worth getting. As mentioned earlier, I would go for the plastic models over the lead ones, especially if a child is playing with it. Though it is often cheaper, I would only get the lead model if it going to be kept in a cabinet and hardly used. If you see the plastic model, grab it! Onwards with the “Savanah Summer”!!!