Commonly called the brown dog tick or kennel tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus is the most widely distributed tick species in the world. It’s primary hosts are dogs and other canids, but it can bite humans as well. However, it doesn’t have a strong predilection for humans, and even in households where dogs are infested, their human owners may never get bitten.
Mountain Lion, 2023 (Wild Safari North American Wildlife by Safari Ltd.)
4.6 (14 votes)
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.
Rabbit Figurines Playset (Toymany)
5 (4 votes)
Before I start this review, I must once again thank @Toymany-kenc and all our friends at Toymany for the donation of these review samples for the Blog. I had a keen interest in purchasing this set, so I was very happy to be able to get one for review!
The domestic rabbit is descended from the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).
Fire Salamander (Tennessee Aquarium Salamander Collection by Safari Ltd.)
5 (6 votes)
After so many fish, it was time to take on a group of animals that I’m less familiar with…from a set that is either a holy grail for collectors (if they missed it), or a treasured part of the collection (if they didn’t miss it!) It’s a series of salamanders and newts produced by Safari Ltd in association with the Tennessee Aquarium.
Asian Arowana (Monster Fish by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)
5 (2 votes)
After recently discussing some Takara figures from a Monster Fish set (…the Fishing Wars) I thought I’d go into some others. So I am looking at the pair of Asian arowana figures from an earlier Takara Tomy series…also called Monster Fish (!?) but not fishing themed I guess? In fact the theme is pretty loose (the other two figures are deep sea fish…) I don’t actually have those other two, but I do like bonytongue figures.
Alligator Gar (Mini Ancient Fish Series 1 by Bandai)
5 (6 votes)
Back with another Bandai ‘Mini Ancient Fish’ model, but this time from series 1. As it is, it’s the only figure I have from this particular set, but it went without saying that I would add another alligator gar Atractosteus spatula to the collection! Like the more recent Series 2 (of which I have the whole set and have already discussed) the hallmarks of the series were there in the first series.
Giant Pandas (Jungle Pandas Family Set by Toymany)
4.2 (6 votes)
Before I start this review, I would like to thank @Toymany-kenc and the folks at Toymany for these review samples. We hope this is the start of a long and productive relationship between Toymany and the Animal Toy Forum and Animal Toy Blog!
The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the most recognizable, familiar, and iconic animals on the planet.
Beaver (Mojö Woodland by Mojö Fun)
4.3 (9 votes)
During my teenage years I found myself living on a 50-acre farm complete with a creek running through it, fallow fields, and woodlands abutted against vast National Forest land that made the wilderness seem endless. It was the perfect playground for a young lad obsessed with animals and nature. My favorite place to visit amidst all that was the local beaver pond, and I spent many evenings just quietly sitting along the bank of the pond, VHS camcorder in hand, observing wildlife.
Armadillo, 2024 (Wild Life America by Schleich)
4.9 (10 votes)
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Armadillos, which are part of the superorder Xenarthra along with anteaters and sloths, are immediately recognizable by their tough armoured hides, which makes them almost seem more reptilian than mammalian. There are currently 21 recognized species, all native to the Americas, with the smallest and the largest being the pink fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus) and the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) respectively.
Electric Eel (Dangerous Creatures by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)
3.6 (5 votes)
Back again with another fish from Takara, from yet another series. This one is the electric eel Electrophorus electricus (probably…a few species were separated from E. electricus in 2019, but this is the most likely species for the figure based on appearance and general familiarity). As the set name implies, it featured animals that shared the characteristic of being dangerous (to people).
Mini Crustaceans (Diversity of Life on Earth by Bandai)
5 (3 votes)
In early 2024, Bandai announced a set of seven miniature crustaceans in their ever-growing Diversity of Life on Earth line. I was must admit, I had mixed emotions for this set. Two of the figures I really wanted! For one of them, I go either way. And for the remaining four, I didn’t need or really want any of them.
Chinese Sturgeon (Mini Ancient Fish Series 2 by Bandai)
4.8 (4 votes)
This figure represents the fifth and final model in the Mini Ancient Fish series 2 from Bandai. In this case, it a fish well-known as ‘ancient’, a Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis. Sturgeons are well known as primitive fish, with the order Acipenseriformes represented in the Jurassic, and the earliest member of the sturgeon family Acipenseridae being known from the late Cretaceous, included in the same genus Acipenser (although it is believed that this genus is paraphyletic–so the taxonomy could change).
Weedy Seadragon (Incredible Creatures by Safari Ltd.)
4.3 (6 votes)
The fishes of the order Syngnathiformes (pipefishes, seahorses, and trumpetfishes) are some of the most visually bizarre and strangely adapted fishes on our planet and yet most of them look downright conventional when compared to those members of the family that look more like plants than fish. In what is certainly a textbook case of mimicry, the weedy and leafy seadragons have evolved to look like the kelp and seaweed fronds they live amongst.
Giant Anteater (Wildlife by Mojö Fun)
4.5 (10 votes)
Review and images by Sam; edited by bmathison1972
An animal of absurd proportions, the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) is the largest of the anteater species as well as the largest living member of Xenarthra, a group of placental mammals characterized by fused pelvic bones, spine reinforcing bones, and a peculiar blood vessel structure that allows energy sparing by an extremely low metabolic rate.
Xingu River Ray (Mini Ancient Fish Series 2 by Bandai)
5 (5 votes)
I’m back with a fourth figure in the Mini Ancient Fish series 2 from Bandai. It seems to be, like the first series, the obligatory chondrichthyan in the set of fish representing notable species that have a presumably ‘ancient’ heritage from an evolutionary point of view. Does the figure today represent that?