Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the largest wild dog on the South American continent and with its very fox-like head and coloration, and long, spindly limbs, easily one of the weirdest-looking members of the entire dog family.
Released in 2013, the CollectA maned wolf is sculpted in a walking stance with its head turned to look to the right, its right front paw extended forward, and its left hind paw raised very slightly off the ground. It stands nearly 7 cm tall at the tips of its ears and measures 7.5 cm long from its front right paw to its left hind one. A real maned wolf stands up to 1.1 metres tall at the withers, making it the tallest of all extant canids. However, it only weighs around 20-30 kg, making it lighter than the grey wolf and the African hunting dog.
Most of this wolf’s fur is correctly coloured reddish orange with black applied to its lower limbs and the mane on its back. White is used for the tail, a patch on the belly, inside the ears, and under the lower jaw. The muzzle is dark grey and the eyes and nose are glossy black. Finally, the pads on the tiny paws are dull brown.
The detail on this toy is quite good. The fur looks thick and shaggy on the neck and body and the ears and paws are nicely sculpted. There are no visible teats or genitals, so the sex of this maned wolf is entirely up to you.
With its narrow, pointed muzzle and large, pointed ears, the head on this wolf does indeed resemble a red fox’s more than any other canid’s, although they are not closely related. The tail is relatively short while the limbs are extremely long and spindly, which are very handy adaptations for living in grasslands. Unlike most other large canids, the maned wolf is a loner and even mated pairs only rarely meet up together. It feeds on small mammals, most rabbits and rodents, reptiles, birds, and invertebrates, and may scavenge on carrion as well. However, more than half of its diet consists of bulbs, fruits, roots, sugarcane, and tubers, with the aptly named wolf apple being its most common food. The maned wolf in turn is prey for jaguars and sometimes pumas.
Overall, the CollectA maned wolf is quite an unusual and decent animal figure, and worth adding to one’s collection.
I still prefer this one over Safari’s, both in terms of size and posture.
I was actually rather turned off from the moment I first laid eyes on the Safari one. I really don’t like how the paws on its left side are fused together. That and the fact that it’s too big compared to other canid toys.
This is a much better figure than Safari’s oddly posed offering. It’s about 1/15 to 1/16 scale for those who are interested.