Dromedary Camel, calf (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 bmathison), 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!

Next up we have the dromedary camel calf. The mother camel will leave her herd in order to calf in private; this is thought to help reduce risk of predators since a solitary camel would be more difficult to notice on the landscape than an entire herd of them. She will rejoin the herd with her newborn calf around 2 weeks after the birth, this gives the calf time to develop its coordination and muscles to keep up with the rest of its family. When a calf is born, they don’t have the hump developed yet (fortunately for their mother), there are only small tufts of curly hair that indicate where the hump will develop as the calf ages. They also may be very pale in color, nearly white in some cases, and develop their tan coloring as they age. They can walk within 30 minutes of being born and can weigh up to 81 lbs! This calf will nurse anywhere around 10-18 months depending on mom’s biology and food availability. This calf won’t reach its full adult size until about 7 years of age.

Once it is full grown, this is an animal that won’t sweat until it is 106 F (or 41 C) in temperature and can live up to 6 months with no food or water (provided that they had good body condition, including hump fat storage). Despite common belief, their hump is not full of water directly; it actually stores fat that when it gets metabolized it breaks down into energy for the body and water that it will absorb. This is why they can go so long without eating or drinking, one hump can store up to 80 lbs of fat inside it! Dromedary camels are considered domesticated animals and have enabled humans to inhabit the most arid regions of this planet. They have been extinct in the wild for about 2,000 years and we originally domesticated them around 4,000 years ago. Today, the only wild living dromedary camels are actually feral examples.

And now for the actual review portion. As usual, I think Toymany did a really splendid job. This calf is laying down for a rest in a fairly neutral posture. It has wonderful fur texture and detailing all around the figure, even down to the underside. This is one of my favorite features for a Toymany figure- they never forget to sculpt the underside of a model even when it is sitting or laying down! This is something that some companies do even today, though it was much more common in older examples to leave the underside less detailed or even flat. But no, this little guy has all four of his legs tucked up underneath him and they have the same level of detail and anatomy as the rest of the model. You can see his toes, ankles, and hocks, his knees and elbows. His toes are even painted correctly with the foot pad and darker nail on the end. Moving back up to the head, he has his ears set directed to either side, perhaps to hear his mother when she calls? He has a very sweetly sculpted face with almost sleepy looking eyes. Overall, it’s a splendid addition to any camel appreciator and to any plastic herd of such.

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!