Well, this upcoming week is Shark Week (and Shark Fest was last week, apparently) so here’s our mandatory shark review to celebrate the event. Not that we need an excuse to review sharks, we appreciate sharks all year long around here. Counting this review, I’ve now covered a baker’s dozen cartilaginous fishes.
African Bush Elephant, pair (Noah’s Pals by Caboodle! Toys LLC)
2.8 (4 votes)
Continuing on with my “Savannah Summer”, when on safari, you want to see the largest species a country have to offer. And when it comes to Africa, there is no larger than the largest land animal on earth, the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana). These powerful proboscidians populate a large section of Africa, though their numbers are in decline as a result of poaching for ivory made from their tusks.
Atlantic Goliath Grouper (Incredible Creatures by Safari Ltd.)
5 (5 votes)
The Atlantic goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) is appropriately named, this fish is an absolute brute, a monster, a behemoth. It’s the kind of fish that looks bigger than it rightfully should be. We expect large sizes from sharks, tuna, and billfishes but this fish has a very conventional “fishy” body plan, like you would see in smaller perches, cichlids, or basses, only it is blown up to absurd proportions.
Nile Crocodile, 2007 (Wild Life Africa by Schleich)
4 (5 votes)
Schleich is a German company that has really evolved a lot, especially in the last 20 years or so, from making more simplistic figurines to becoming a creator of some of the most realistic animal figures I’ve ever seen. That being said, I do still like some of the slightly older Schleichs and have been occasionally seeking to add some of the older ones to my collection.
Lemon Shark (Wild Safari Sealife by Safari Ltd.)
4 (5 votes)
Lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) are a tough, adaptable, nearshore species, found along the eastern coast of the United States, south to southern Brazil as well as the western shore of the Americas from Baja to Ecuador, in addition to the western coast of Africa. Because of their hardiness and accessibility, they’ve been heavily studied by many prominent shark scientists.
Emperor Scorpion (Revogeo by Kaiyodo)
5 (2 votes)
I decided to migrate over my Revogeo emperor scorpion walkaround from the forum, to make the Kaiyodo Revogeo collection complete (to date) on the Blog. I edited the language to reflect the current year.
Today is a walkaround of the emperor scorpion, Pandinus imperator (Koch, 1842) by Kaiyodo – Revogeo, originally released in 2019, and the first in the Revogeo line.
Grey Heron (Wild Animals by Papo)
4.8 (4 votes)
Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972
If you ever have the chance and time to observe a heron on the hunt, take a moment (or half an hour) to watch this so common and at once so awesome creature. While some groups of animals have incorporated the combination of freezing, glacial movement, and sudden strikes into their hunting techniques, herons have somewhat perfected this strategy.
Black-Browed Albatross (Marine Life by Papo)
4.6 (5 votes)
Albatrosses, members of the family Diomedeidae, are some of the most spectacular seabirds, perfectly adapted to a life of sea and air. Albatrosses are some of the largest flying animals alive today, with the wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) having a wingspan of up to 12.2’ (3.7 meters) and weighing in excess of 20 lbs (9 kg).
Dromedary, adult and calf (Wild Animals by Papo)
4.8 (6 votes)
Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972
If there’s an iconic animal of the desert, then it sure would be the dromedary (Camelus dromedarius), sometimes also called ‘ship of the desert’ for its rocking moves when used for human transportation.
The dromedary has a long history with humans; it was first domesticated around 4000 years ago in either North Africa or the Arabian Peninsula.
Spotted Hyena (Wild Safari Wildlife by Safari Ltd.)
3.3 (7 votes)
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Spotted or laughing hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) are masterful hunters of the African savannah that kill up to 95% of their food as opposed to scavenging it. They have the largest group sizes and the most complex social behaviour of any member of the order Carnivora.
Butterflies TOOB (Safari Ltd.)
4.3 (3 votes)
Butterflies are unquestionably the most popular and universally loved insects. You would be hard pressed to find someone that fears or loathes butterflies in the same way a lot of folk’s fear and loathe moths, for example. Even if butterflies are basically glorified, diurnal moths themselves. Butterflies and moths both belong to the order Lepidoptera and although moths first appear in the early Jurassic, 200 million years ago, butterflies don’t show up until the Paleocene, 56 million years ago, having evolved directly from moths.
Bull Shark (Marine Life by Papo)
5 (6 votes)
Counted among “The Big 3”, the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) is considered one of the most dangerous sharks in the world, right alongside the great white and tiger shark. The frequency in which this species encounters humans is due to its preference for habitat that humans also enjoy, shallow warm coastal waters, estuaries, and bays.