Mountain Lion, 2023 (Wild Safari North American Wildlife by Safari Ltd.)

Mountain lion, puma, cougar, panther, catamount. These are all names for the same animal, Puma concolor. But that’s not all of them. In total this cat has about 40 common names in the English language alone, with some more obscure ones including painter, wildcat, Mexican lion, deer lion, and ghost cat. But of course it does, when you have the largest geographic range of any land mammal in the western hemisphere, you get a lot of names. The mountain lion ranges from Canada to Chile and used to live from coast to coast but has been extirpated from much of eastern and middle North America, with the only verified eastern population being those in Florida where they’re called Florida panthers. They are making their way back east again, however. In 2011 a mountain lion from South Dakota was struck by a car and killed in Connecticut. It had traveled 1,500 miles from its birthplace to its unfortunate end.

There are about as many toys of this cat as there are names, with Toy Animal Wiki listing 52 of them. And all the major companies have made at least one, except for CollectA for whatever reason. Safari has the most though, with at least 8 distinct sculpts. Their latest one was released in 2023 and it’s part of their North American Wildlife collection. It’s the figure we’re looking at today.

Cats are some of my favorite animals, but I don’t have many in my collection. I feel like they’re difficult animals to pull off, with their flattened faces and forward-facing eyes. A lot of them end up looking derpy, especially for later production runs of older toys. It can be difficult to line those eyes up correctly. I was excited when Safari announced this new mountain lion because it gave me a chance to get a first run figure of what should be the best option available. Safari’s other NAW mountain lion is decent but since it was originally produced in 2008 it’s starting to show its age. Other recent efforts like Papo’s (2016) and Schleich’s (2022) just didn’t impress me much.

The thing about this new mountain lion is that it retails for $14.99 despite being a standard size figure. That’s more than double the price of the other NAW mountain lion of the exact same size. That one goes for $6.50, the price range of most standard size Safari figures. Ideally, the price should be a sign of quality but these days it could just be inflation. Let’s take a closer look and see!

The Safari mountain lion measures 5.5” long and stands about 2.25” tall at the shoulder. To calculate scale, we need just the figure’s head-to-body length which is about 4” (10.16 cm). Mountain lions have a head-to-body length of 42-54” (107-137 cm) and stand 24-35” (60-90 cm) at the shoulder. Males are larger than females and average 117 to 159 lbs. (53 to 72 kg) but larger individuals have been documented. Despite their large size and lion moniker, mountain lions are not a “big cat” (genus Panthera) and are more closely related to house cats than true lions. Their closest relative is the jagarundi but their next closest relatives are cheetahs. Safari’s figure comes out to be 1/10-1/13 in scale.

The figure is presented in a striding or prowling posture with both left limbs forward of those on the right. The tail dips down and curves back up at the tip and the head is lifted high, alert, and looking leftward. In life, mountain lions are apex predators that occupy every conceivable habitat within their vast range. Prey animals include whitetail and mule deer, bighorn sheep, feral pigs and horses, moose, elk, mountain goats, and guanaco as well as smaller animals. They compete with bears and wolves and although wolf packs occasionally kill mountain lions the cat has the advantage in a one-on-one conflict. In Central and South America, they have jaguars to contend with. Their occasional predation on humans, livestock, and pets also puts them in conflict with us.  

This is an anatomically sound figure. The shoulders protrude slightly, as they do in cats, and the hindlimbs are proportionally large and long. In life, these large hindlimbs allow the cougar to leap 18’ (5.5 meters) high off the ground. Loose saggy skin (known as a primordial pouch in cats) is sculpted along the underside. The paws are large and broad. The head is round with rounded ears perked up and facing forward.

Finer details include a nice etching of fur across the body and sculpted paw pads, perhaps the best I’ve seen on a toy carnivoran with each pad being distinctly defined. Underlying musculature and stretched tendons convey strength and power. Sculpted genitalia indicate that this cat is a male.

The eyes are exceptionally well done, being small and round and set deeply in the orbits. They almost look like inserted beads (they’re not) and are further elevated by precise paint application. They have a glossy sheen to them, and the pupils are nicely aligned. Not perfectly aligned, but close enough. These are some of the best eyes I’ve seen on an animal model and certainly on a cat.

The figure is painted tawny brown with a white underside. Black facial markings are cleanly and precisely applied to the face. The eyes and mouth are outlined in black, and the nose is pink with a glossy finish. The back of the ears and tip of the tail are black. The paw pads are gray with black in between the pads.

The 2023 Safari mountain lion is undoubtably the best figure of this iconic American feline ever produced and improves greatly upon its predecessor. Finer attention to detail is evident in features like the eyes, toe pads, and paint application, and those help justify the higher price tag. That said, I’m not sure its so vast an improvement to warrant a price tag more than twice as much as the other NAW mountain lion. For that reason, if you have the older figure you might not feel compelled to get this one. But, if you don’t have a mountain lion or only want the best, this is the one to get. Although I have no regrets purchasing this figure, I hope it does not represent the beginning of a price increase for all Safari animals in the long run. For this species I’m willing to pay a little extra but that may not be true for others.