Review and images by Sam; edited by bmathison1972
The giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) is the world’s largest otter species as well as the longest member of the Mustellidae family. It originates from South America, and is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, with only 5,000 giant otters remaining in the wild.
The genus Bombus, which includes the bumble bees, consists of over 250 species worldwide. They occur in most terrestrial habitats throughout the Americas and the Palearctic, but are absent in much of Africa, the southern Middle East, much of the Indian subcontinent, Australia, and New Zealand (although they have been introduced to the New Zealand and Tasmania).
Quite a few shark species go by the name “reef shark”. Blacktip, Caribbean, grey, and the subject of today’s review, the whitetip. But while all those sharks belong to the Carcharhinus genus, the whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) does not. But these sharks are not called reef sharks because they’re related.
Review and images by Kikimalou; edited by bmathison1972
After Schleich and Safari Ltd. in 2022, Mojö Fun is also offering its version of the famous green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, new for 2023. Until now, my collection has lacked a serious representative of the species. Initially tempted by the Safari Ltd., I finally fell for the Mojö version.
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
The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) of South America is perhaps the most awesome and powerful avian predator on Earth. A big female can reach up to 1 metre/3 feet in length, 2 metres/6.5 feet in wingspan, and 9 kg/20 lbs in weight, and boasts hind talons that are around the same size as a grizzly bear’s claws and much sharper.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The common or green iguana (Iguana iguana) is a reptile of many titles. It’s the largest member of the iguana family, measuring up to 1.7 metres from head to tail, with most of that length being tail. It has probably the widest distribution of any lizard, ranging throughout most of South America and all the way up into southern Mexico, plus it’s been introduced to places like Florida, Hawaii, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan.
Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972
When I was a child of eight or nine my dad gave us cassettes with audio plays once in a while which he brought from the big city where he worked. One of these plays was The Children of Captain Grant (or In Search of the Castaways) by Jules Verne.
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 figures by Safari, Papo, CollectA, Schleich, and other companies significant to our hobby. In the case of CollectA they’re often the only place that sells their products at a reasonable price within the United States.
The bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) is a notorious insect from the rainforests of Central and South America. It is often regarded as having one of the most painful stings of any insect, and currently has a rating of 4.0+ (the highest possible) on Schmidt’s Sting Pain Index.
Today I will be reviewing the 2019 caiman by Safari Ltd. I was inspired to review this figure after it came up for my daily Museum post and all the exhaustive research I did on determining its identification. Let’s discuss the identification first, shall we? Safari Ltd. only marketed this figure as a caiman, mentioning both the genera Caiman and Melanosuchus on their website.
Nearly two years ago to the day, I reviewed Club Earth’s Butterflies to Go collection after acquiring the last figures for that Holy Grail collection. Now today I get to do the same thing for the Caterpillars to Go collection, again having received the last figure in this Holy Grail Collection.
I’m a little late to the Hallowe’en party this year…but better late than never. And in that spirit, here’s a set of animals that, if you mess with them, ‘late’ could be your proper adjective. Animals that as a group tend to create a visceral if generally unnecessary fear and loathing, even though most are harmless.
The Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) is a member of the family Delphinidae that can be found in temperate and tropical waters throughout the Atlantic. Calves are born unspotted, and spots don’t appear until 3-4 years of age, on average. More spots appear as the dolphin ages and physically mature dolphins have the heaviest spotting, although the amount of spotting can still vary between individuals.
The green anaconda (Eunectes murinus) is the heaviest species of snake in the world, and one of the longest. It is also one of the most familiar and feared species of snake. In capturing the human imagination the anaconda has become the subject of pulpy adventure novels, and B grade monster movies that have perpetuated many tall tales about its maximum size and potential man-eating abilities.
