Before I start this review, I would like to thank @Kenc and our friends at Toymany for providing this review sample for the Blog! It is very much appreciated!
White rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum) live in herds (commonly called ‘crashes’) of up to 14 animals. These crashes are composed primarily of females. Sub-adult males will sometimes congregate, often with a solitary cow, but mature bulls are typically solitary and approach females when the latter are ready to breed. Courtship and mating can be complicated and sometimes aggressive. Copulation alone can take upwards of 30 minutes. After mating, the pair stays together for anywhere from five to 20 days, after which the male leaves. Females take care of their offspring alone or in groups with other females. The gestation period is about 16 months, after which a single calf is born. Newborn calves weigh 40-65 kilograms (88-143 pounds) and are unsteady for the first few days. Calves are nursed for anywhere from 2-12 months. A cow usually won’t give birth for another 2-3 years, but before she does, she chases away her current offspring. Today we will be looking at a white rhinoceros calf that was recently released by Toymany as part of a set of 12 baby animals. This will be the first of six baby African animals that I will be reviewing intermittently over the next 1-2 months. The other six figures in the set, which represent more temperate species of Eurasia and North America, will be reviewed by Saarlooswolfhound.
This baby rhino measures about 5.5 cm long and 4.2 cm tall across its farthest points. Calculating a scale is hard without knowing the age the calf is supposed to be. The head-and-body length is about 6.5 cm which would scale at 1:7.7-1:10 for a newborn, but it could represent a slightly older calf as well.
The figure is sculpted sitting backwards, which is not uncommon for young calves to do, especially while they are still learning to be steady on their feet. Mojö Fun also produced a sitting calf, back in 2016. There is extremely fine detail with regards to skin texture and wrinkling, and on all sides of the toy. Toymany really captured the innocence and adorability of a baby rhino!
The base color is a light grey, with darker grey accents for the eyes, toenails, around the mouth, inside the ears, and the swish of the tail. Mine has a little smudge of black paint on the upper right shoulder, but this is probably just a minor factory mistake. A collector on the STS forum has already photographed their figures from this set and theirs doesn’t have this black smudge, so it is probably a rare phenomenon.
Paired with the 2016 Safari Ltd. adult white rhinoceros. The baby is probably a bit big for a youngster of this age next to this adult, but they still look good together:
The Safari figure is not sexed, so for the purposes of this Blog review, it can represent a caring mother:
The white rhinoceros does not have many natural predators, but protection by the mother is important for a very young rhino, as danger lurks around every corner…
Overall this is a very well-made toy of a white rhinoceros calf, and would make a great addition to collections and dioramas that include herds or other family scenes. There might be other adults that scale better with it, but the Safari figure above is the only adult white rhinoceros I own for comparison. This figure is available individually or part of the set direct from Toymany’s website. Also, you can use the discount code TMAFBM10 when ordering directly from Toymany’s website and receive a 10% discount.
