Review and images by ALeahgator; edited by bmathison1972
The emperor penguin, or Aptenodytes forsteri, is an iconic winter-themed animal and also a popular symbol of Antarctica. It would be hard to think of an animal more iconic of Earth’s polar regions, except for the woolly mammoth which is now extinct.
Edited by bmathison1972
The emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) is the largest species of penguin in the world and also nearly everyone’s favorite. This small emperor penguin plush by Douglas Cuddle Toys has become my new favorite animal. Penguins are popular. Late 90s and early 2000s kids may remember Pingu the Penguin from PBS, and later in 2005 came the penguins from Madagascar–who can forget Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private?
Recently, when forum member Suspsy reviewed the Papo emperor penguin, I made a comment that I also had this figure, and it was one of only a couple figures I didn’t initially retain from Colorata’s Penguins of the World box set. After I published that comment it got me thinking, and I revisited the three figures from that set I didn’t retain (the other two were the chinstrap penguin and rockhopper penguin, both of which I went with Safari Ltd.’s versions).
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Well, it turns out that my previous review was in fact my 100th for the Animal Toy Blog and I completely overlooked that fact! So I guess I’ll celebrate with #101 instead. My subject is the Papo emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) with chick, yet another generous sample from Happy Hen Toys, bless them.
Review and images by EpicRaptorMan; edited by bmathison1972
Imagine a white fuzzy seal with big black eyes crying out for food. Now imagine a massive predator with enormous jaws and an appetite to match; this is Hydrurga leptonyx a.k.a. the leopard seal.
Today I chose to review the leopard seal by Papo (56042) and if you couldn’t tell by the intro, the leopard seal is not to be trifled with.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
We usually picture seals as these cute bumbling blobs that are clumsy and slow on land and behave like puppy dogs. Make no mistake: once they get into the water, they transform into fast moving predators preying on fish and invertebrates like cephalopods and crustaceans.
The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) is the antithesis of what we think of when we think of most pinnipeds: seals, sealions, and walruses. The only member of its genus, the leopard seal is about as far from a chubby harbor seal, or playful California sea lion, as you can get.
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).
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
ANIA is a line of animal figures released under Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. catered towards educating children about wildlife. These figures are highly detailed, inexpensive, and often accurate to the animals they are made to portray. The line has gained popularity in Japan, with them branching out to releasing bath bombs with little animals, gashapons, and blind boxes.
Welcome, once again, to my “Winter Wonderland” series! We started in the great white north, now we shall go to the frozen south of the world: Antarctica, responsible for such icy greats as the Ice Age. It is also an area where terrestrial mammals aren’t present, thus the major terrestrial animals are penguins, having adapted to the cold climate over millions of years.
