Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) is also commonly referred to as the snow monkey, and it certainly lives up to that name as no other primate save for Homo sapiens lives in a colder and more northerly habitat. It is the only monkey species found in Japan and resides across much of Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. Like most other monkeys, it is an omnivore, feeding on insects, bark, and a wide variety of leaves, fruits, and seeds.
This is Schleich’s 2024 Japanese macaque. It is sculpted standing on all fours with its head turned to look to the right, which gives it a length of 6.7 cm and a height of 5 cm. Real macaques weigh on average only 11.3 kg (25 lbs) and 8.4 kg (19 lbs) for males and female respectively, so regardless of its sex, this toy is oversized compared to other Schleich primates like the bonobo and the chimpanzee.
Indeed, I am not sure of this macaque’s sex, although I am leaning towards it being a male. Its fur is correctly coloured greyish-brown for the most part, with white on its underbelly and dark brown for its hands and feet. The face is pink with glossy black eyes, nostril, and mouth slit, and the ears are pink as well.
Japanese macaques possess very thick, shaggy fur for coping with the cold and snow, and this toy has been sculpted to resemble such. The bare palms and soles of the feet have visible wrinkles and the stubby tail is visible on the rump. Overall, the sculpting job is fairly standard for a Schleich mammal nowadays, which is to say that it’s solid enough, but probably not what you’d declare spectacular.
Accuracy-wise, there are no issues to be found on this toy. It certainly appears to have all the right body proportions in addition to a think fur coat. And there’s something about its facial expression that radiates intelligence and awareness. Which is fitting given that Japanese macaques are among the most intelligent monkeys. They are known to wash food by dipping it in water, they make snowballs for playing with, and they know to bathe in natural hot springs as an escape from the coldest temperatures. They ever have different accents to their calls depending on which part of Japan they’re from!
The Schleich Japanese macaque is a pretty decent toy on the whole. Can’t really go wrong with an endearing monkey!
With the CollectA Sumatran orangutan and Safari Ltd. spider monkey:
I was excited to get this figure. Sure some of the Japanese figures are nicer but I wanted a standard-sized version that didn’t require assembly.
What scale is this model Asim very big on scale
based on the measurements above, it’s in the 1:10.5-1:11.4 range, assuming the height posted above is shoulder height. I haven’t measured mine yet.
what scale is it