Review and images by Sam; edited by bmathison1972
The blue and gold macaw (Ara ararauna) is one of the world’s most popular parrots. These beautiful birds come from Central and South America and the Caribbean, and are a resident in the countries of Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Paraguay.
Over the course of the summer I reviewed the entirety of Safari’s famous and sadly discontinued Tennessee Aquarium Salamanders line, a set of 7 life-like and life-size models released in 1995 (one in 1997) and retired in the mid-2000s. But I also hinted at a spiritual successor that, while not in the line, fits alongside them in theme, style, and production…also geographically.
The Everglades is a subtropical and tropical wetland spanning 7,800 square miles (20,000 km2) in central and south Florida in the United States. Water from the Kissimmee River south of Orlando feeds into Lake Okeechobee and then continues south into Florida Bay. Although mostly marsh and flooded grassland the Everglades also run through cypress swamps, hardwood hammocks, pinelands, coastal prairies, and mangrove forests.
So here we are–the final figure in the Tennessee Aquarium series from Safari, the only figure released after 1995 (1997 to be exact). This is the common mudpuppy Necturus maculosus, number 210672, probably the hardest to find one and, when stacked together, the largest and most imposing by a wide margin.
Before we begin the review, I would like to extend my gratitude towards Happy Hen Toys for sending this figure along as a review sample. Happy Hen Toys is a U.S. distributor of animal figures and one of the only places in the country where you can get CollectA figures at a reasonable price.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is a critically endangered salamander native only to Lake Xochimilco in southern Mexico City, Mexico. Only between 50 and 1000 individuals reside there, although there are many more being raised in zoos, research laboratories, and the pet trade.
Here is one more lungless plethodontid salamander from the official Tennessee Aquarium series, the yonahlossee salamander Plethodon yonahlossee, item number 210472. Probably the figure with the most distinctive colours, it may also be one of the salamander figures with the longest lasting presence on the various Safari lines overall.
The American badger (Taxidea taxus) is said to be North America’s only species of badger, but the truth is that badgers are a polyphyletic group, united not by a single common ancestor but by appearance. In the case of the American badger, it is the only member of its sub-family, Taxidiinae.
The next figure to discuss from the Safari Tennessee Aquarium is the marbled salamander, Ambystoma opacum, item number 210372. This is pretty much the smallest figure in the series, which is fitting as the marbled salamander is relatively small for it’s genus. Unlike the last few salamander figures we’ve looked at, this species is a member of the Ambystomatidae, the mole and giant salamanders; Ambystoma is the mole salamanders.
The next figure to look at from Safari’s Tennessee Aquarium Salamander collection is the red salamander, Pseudotriton ruber, series number 210272. It represents a species that is fairly widespread in the United States east of the Mississippi river, from New York state south to Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia.
I officially started birding in late January, 2021. One of my first ventures up City Creek Canyon, the canyon immediately behind my neighborhood in the foothills of Salt Lake City, Utah, was in mid-March of that year. As I was walking up the canyon, two birders were coming down the canyon and asked me, ‘have you seen it?’ Now, for those of you that are not birders, when you are in the field and a fellow birder asks ‘if you’ve seen it’, the ‘it’ is usually something rare that’s been reported in the area, and it’s assumed that if you are birding in that spot, you are there to see ‘it’.
The bobcat or red lynx (Lynx rufus) is North America’s most abundant and wide-ranging species of wild cat. It can be found from southern Canada through most of the United States and into Mexico. Although heavily persecuted it has been able to maintain its range and a generally high population.
Now for a review of another of the Tennessee Aquarium salamander models from Safari, this time the green salamander Aneides aeneus, product number 210172 in the line. Green salamanders are notable for a few features, not least of which is their distinctive green colour; this species is the only salamander in North America with green colouration.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Happy Shark Week! For a change, instead of reviewing a shark for this year, I will be reviewing a selected group of sea animals with a shark included, of course.
An introduction to Animal Heavenly Body. They are a Chinese company, akin to a mix of PNSO and Haolonggood with a hint of Popmart, which focuses on modern animals with some stylized features with them.
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.
