Cougar, cub (Baby Wildlife by Toymany)

It’s about time that I get the other half of this baby set from Toymany up on the blog! My portion of this set covers the animals from Asia and North America and will reflect the other half of the figures from Africa that have been covered by my fellow reviewer, bmathison1972. Our friend from Toymany, Kenc, was so kind as to provide this set to me and as nearly all of their products have been right on the mark, this set of babies has been a welcome addition to my collection!

As a new set released in 2024 it includes infant versions of the following animals; African elephant, hippopotamus, common zebra, reticulated giraffe, white rhinoceros, and a lowland gorilla (all reviewed and posted here by bmathison1972), in addition to a cougar, moose, sika deer, snow leopard, dromedary camel, and giant panda. I tried to cover information for both the juveniles for each species as well as the adult version of them- anyhow, let’s just get into the review!

To kick off, I wanted to start with my favorite figure of the entire set; the cougar cub. To this figure is a juvenile form of the American cougar/puma/mountain lion that can be found in both North and South America. This animal is actually known by over 40 names in English, Spanish, and other languages, but I think we are all on the same page for this species being known as Puma concolor. This top predator is born blind and covered in spots to try and help camouflage the infants in their early weeks; these spots will gradually fade to their tawny base coat by the time they are nine months old. They are usually born at 7-16 ounces at birth and start to grow quickly. Litters usually end up in two cubs at a time, but litters can range from one all the way up to six cubs at a time (however, the more cubs there are in a litter, the fewer there are that will survive to adulthood- usually only 1/6). These cubs nurse for 3 months off of their mother, they are then started on bits of meat around 6 weeks old. These cubs are born with yellow-blue eyes that will change to amber by 16 months old. Cubs will stick with their mothers for around 16 months up to 2 years- this depends on the cubs’ precociousness as well as their mother’s tolerance of their presence.

Once these predators go off on their own, they can still have a high mortality rate while they are learning to navigate the world on their own. But if they are successful in surviving their first year, then they should turn into successful predators in their own right. These guys are the 4th largest wildcat in the world after lions, tigers, and jaguars; they are not however considered a “big cat” since they are not capable of producing a proper “roar” and instead include a “purr” in their vocalization repertoire; instead they are considered the largest of the small wild cats. These incredible cats can leap up to 18 feet vertically and 40 feet horizontally. It’s a wonder that they ever suffer a failed hunt! These hunts usually happen in early morning or late evening and target anything from as small as wild rabbits up to animals as large as Rocky Mountain elk. Sometimes, they do target livestock and this is an instance where they may be removed from the population for this mistake. These animals can live up to 8-10 years in the wild but up to 20 years in captivity.

This cougar cub is the model I was most excited for when this set was announced. Firstly, it is of a species rather rare in toy form, and even rarer in juvenile representation. There is exactly one other example of a cub from a major brand, done by Bullyland in 2010 and retired in 2011 (this Toymany model even outshines that figure). This cub is sculpted to be walking along, presumably briskly given his posture, possibly to keep up with mom and any siblings or to pursue some item of interest. The head is held level with the spine, ears pricked forward and with intense looking blue eyes. The tail is lowered, held just above the ground. Just like with the sika calf, this cougar cub has sculpted toes and the suggestion of muscle on the chest- presumably to be used to either escape danger or pursue mischief. The figure itself is expertly painted, this cub has all of the dark spots and bands present as a real-life cougar cub, down to the white patches around the eyes and muzzle, dark ears, and banded tail. This is a wonderful offering of a special animal from Toymany, and I would recommend it to any and all collections.

Each of Toymany’s models are offered both in sets or as individual models for purchase through their website- feel free to use this code TMAFPM10 or this link https://toymany.com?sca_ref=6246126.dDyVkfTite for 10% off!