The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) is one of the most widely distributed of the old world vultures, ranging throughout Asia, Europe, and small portions of Africa. As such they also represent the archetypal vulture; the kind you might see perched on a tombstone in an old western movie, despite being visually dissimilar to the new world vultures of the American west.
Green Mamba (AAA)
4.3 (3 votes)
AAA is a toy company that produced a wide array of toy animals throughout the 80’s and 90’s. Some of their toys are among the very best of the species they represent but I must admit AAA is largely a mystery to me. When they began and when they ended, who sculpted their toys, I couldn’t answer those questions.
Striped Hyena (Wild Animals by Starlux)
3.8 (4 votes)
Today we are going back in time with a figure, to one that may predate many of us here on the blog! I am speaking about a Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena (Linnaeus, 1758) by vintage company Starlux. So I can bring out another species of hyena, and bring up a classic series of figures as well.
Aye-aye (Ueno Zoo Box by Colorata)
3 (3 votes)
This time around I’m going to introduce what I think is the first primate to the blog…and what could be more appropriate than one of the more primitive modern primates, a strepsirrhine, a lemur to be exact? Specifically, the aye-aye Daubentonia madagascariensis Gmelin 1788. So, also one of the weirdest primates as well, and an endangered on as well (on an island of full weird and endangered organisms).
Spotted Hyena (New Heroes by Schleich)
2.2 (6 votes)
So, adding to the Spotted Hyena clan again, this time with a short-lived companion from the Schleich ‘New Heroes’ series. For those who don’t remember the series (from 2011-2013) it featured various human figures representing famous warrior-types from history (Thracian, Ninja, Samurai, etc) as well as some random gladiators, most of whom had names.
Pelican (Wild Animals by Papo)
4.8 (4 votes)
Today I am reviewing the great white pelican, Pelecanus onocrotalus Linnaeus, 1758 by Papo, which was released in 2011 as part of their Wild Animals line. The figure was simply marketed as ‘pelican’ but it most-likely was inteded to represent P. onocrotalus. I decided to review this figure now because I recently replaced it in my Synoptic Collection with the 2016 figure by Schleich.
Spotted Hyena (Ricolino)
1.8 (5 votes)
I’m going to start by saying that it’s my own fault that the first hyena post on this blog did not come from me…pretty much, of all my collection, freshwater fish and hyenas are the main focus, yet I didn’t give any attention to the latter. It does, however, save me from having to talk about hyenas as a group…more toy talk then, I guess?
Spotted Hyena (Wild Life by Schleich)
3.8 (10 votes)
It’s no secret that hyenas don’t have a great public image, they’re often vilified and anthropomorphized with less desirable human traits; cowardice, gluttony, maliciousness, just to name a few. Their portrayal in pop culture, even before The Lion King, has never been a positive one. But like other often vilified animals; snakes, sharks, vultures, bats, spiders, etc.
Shark Ray (Wild Safari Sealife by Safari Ltd.)
5 (6 votes)
It’s a shark! No, wait, it’s a ray! It’s a shark-ray! Although all ray in the front and all shark in the back the shark ray (Rhina ancylostoma) really is a species of ray, but in appearance it looks like some kind of transitional form, making it easy to see the close relationship between sharks and rays.
Saddled Bichir (Colorata Fossil Fishes Box, release 2 & 3)
Blue-winged Goose (Rescue Series by Yowie Group)
5 (3 votes)
Yowies are small plastic figures sold blindly in chocolate-wrapped capsules, similar to Kinder Surprise toys. They originated in Australia in 1995 as a publishing brand by Cadbury and Kidcorp. The first four series consisted of 50 figures each represening species endemic to Australia. The figures had to be assembled and were often quite stylized.
Red River Hog (Wildlife by CollectA)
4.8 (8 votes)
I wanted to introduce the first mammal to the Animal Toy Blog, so I used a Random Number Generator in conjunction with my Excel file database and here we have the red river hog, Potamochoerus porcus (Linnaeus, 1758) by CollectA. The figure was released in 2012 as part of their Wild Life line.