Bluestem Zoological Park (Koi's Synoptic Collection) (OLD)

[Koifish]

This thread is where I would like to share my collection and newest acquisitions. The title "Bluestem Zoo" goes back to my days of playing one of my favorite games of all time, Zoo Tycoon 2; it was the name of my first zoo and has been the name of all of zoos in every virtual setting (also, long-time member of The Round Table forums). However, I'm excited about the prospect of having the "zoo" in physical form on a shelf. My collecting habits are.. are bit particular, you could say. I really only like figures that are in a relaxed or natural-like pose - nothing too action-y. And no gaping jaws. Also, I include animals lost in historical times, and even late Pleistocene animals, as I like to think of Bluestem Zoo existing in some alternate reality where these animals survived and were never affected by humans.

LAST UPDATED: AUGUST 12.2023

Current Exhibits


ELEPHANT ODYSSEY 🐘
• African bush elephant (Schleich)
• Asian elephant (Schleich; Papo)
• Woolly mammoth (TNG)


SANCTUARY ASIA 🐲
• Indian pangolin (Mojo Fun)
• Indian rhinoceros (Schleich)
• Japanese raccoon dog (Kaiyodo)
• Japanese serow (Kitan)
• Komodo dragon (Papo)
• Nilgai (Collecta)
• Père David's deer (Collecta)
• Saola (Collecta)
• Sumatran rhino (Safari ltd.)


GIANT PANDA HABITAT 🐼
• Giant panda (Schleich)


EXPEDITION AFRICA 🦓
• African wild dog (Safari)
• Bongo (Collecta)
• Cheetah (Schleich)
• Common hippopotamus (Papo)
• Dromedary camel (Papo)
• Giant sable antelope (Mojo Fun)
• Grévy's zebra (Collecta)
• Nyala (Collecta)
• Okapi (Schleich)
• Plains zebra (Collecta)
• Pygmy hippopotamus (Safari - Coming Soon!)
• Quagga ("unknown"/"Animal Paradise")
• Red river hog (Collecta)
• Reticulated giraffe (Schleich)
• Spotted hyena (Schleich)
• Springbok (Collecta)
• Warthog (Schleich)


CAT FOREST 🐯
• North American saber-toothed cat (TNG) (coming soon!)
• Serval (Safari ltd.)
• Snow leopard (Schleich)
• Sumatran tiger (Schleich)


LION OVERLOOK 🦁
• Kalahari lion (Schleich)


ISLAND LIFE 🌴
• Blue-footed booby (Safari ltd.)
• Galápagos tortoise (Mojo Fun)


HERPETARIUM 🦎 - Now Open!
• Chinhai spiny newt (Yowie) - New!
• Green vine snake (Yowie) - New!
• Red-eyed tree frog (Play Visons) - New!


AMERICAN TRAILS 🦅
• Coyote (Safari ltd.)
• Grey wolf (Safari ltd.)
• Grizzly bear (Safari ltd.)
• Nine-banded armadillo (Schleich)
• Puma (Schleich)
• Raccoon (Schleich)
• River otter (Schleich)
• Roadrunner (Safari ltd.)
• Scott's horse (Mike Eischen) (coming soon; needs to be painted)
• Shasta ground sloth (Mike Eischen) (coming soon; needs to be painted)


AQUATICUS 🐬
About the Aquaticus: Bluestem Zoological Park features state-of-the-art digital displays, designed to look and feel just like floor-to-ceiling glass, but are actually livestream cam videos showcasing select animals within their natural habitat. Cams on display include OrcaLab's Orca Cam and USC Wrigley Catalina Marine Reserve Dolphin cam.
• Bottlenose dolphin (Safari ltd. MBA)
• Brown Sea Cucumber (Yowie)
• Orca (Safari ltd).
• Slender seahorse (Schleich)
• Vaquita (Safari ltd.)


ARCTIC EDGE 🐧
• Arctic wolf (Schleich)
• Chin-strap penguin (Safari ltd.)
• Emperor penguin (Schleich)
• Polar bear (Safari ltd.)
• Saimaa ringed seal (Yowie)
• Snowy owl (Safari ltd.)


WONDERS DOWN UNDER 🦘
• Cassowary (Safari ltd.)
• Common Wombat (Schleich)
• Dingo (Safari ltd.)
• Matschie's tree kangaroo (Safari ltd.)
• Platypus (Yowie)
• Red-necked wallaby (Safari ltd.)
• Southern bent-wing bat (Yowie)
• Tasmanian devil (Mojo Fun)
• Tasmanian wolf (Hellbender Museum)


SOUTH AMERICA'S PANTANAL🦜
• Baird's tapir (Collecta)
• Capybara (Collecta)
• Giant anteater (Safari ltd.)
• Green iguana (Schleich)
• Jaguar (Safari)
• Kabomani tapir (Mojo Fun)
• Lowland tapir (Mojo Fun)
• Machrauchenia (Safari Ltd.)
• Maned wolf (Collecta)


DER WILDPARK 🐗
• Brown long-eared bat (Papo)
• European badger (Schleich)
• Fallow deer (Collecta)
• Przewalski's horse (Schleich)
• Red deer (Papo)
• Red fox (Schleich)
• Wild boar (Schleich)


CHILDREN'S ZOO 🐐

- Note: several exhibit names and complexes inspired by many of my favorite real-life zoos and aquariums.

[Koifish]

Capybara
Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris
CollectA
Current exhibit: South America's Pantanal


Okapi
Okapia johnstoni
Schleich 14830
Current exhibit: Expedition Africa

[bmathison1972]

Very nice diorama-esque pics of these figures! Very nice!

[Koifish]

Thank you!! Looking forward to doing more and improving them! 

[Koifish]

Blue-footed booby
Sula nebouxii
Safari ltd.
Current exhibit: Island Life


Red river hog
Potamochoerus porcus
Collecta
Current exhibit: Expedition Africa


Common Wombat
Vombatus ursinus
Schleich
Current exhibit: Wonders Down Under


Coyote
Canis latrans
Safari ltd.
Current exhibit: American Trails


Sumatran rhinoceros
Dicerorhinus sumatrensis
Safari ltd.
Current exhibit: Sanctuary Asia


Sumatran tiger
Panthera tigris sondaica
Schleich
Current exhibit: Cat Forest



Coming Soon:
Przewalski's horse | Schleich
Komodo dragon | Papo
Vaquita | Safari ltd.
Giant anteater | Safari ltd
Père David's deer | Collecta

[bmathison1972]

these continue to be very nice. I like the exhibit names, playing on common themes in zoos (at least here in the US). I have a synoptic collection for non-arthropod species, and I have many of the same exemplars that you do!

[Advicot]

I am really enjoying your collection and your logo is wonderful, so are the names of the different areas of your zoo where the animals can be found. 

[Gwangi]

Great thread! Between this one and bmathison's I'm feeling inspired. Keep it up!

[Isidro]

I'm the only one that see all the photos of the last post (except the two first Uintatherium) upside-down?

[Koifish]

Thank you so much for the comments! I'm happy they are liked, and I love making them 

Isidro, I don't know what would cause them to appear upside down  I've not heard anything else about them, they are hosted on Flickr..

[bmathison1972]

they look normal to me!

[Koifish]

Coming back after a ~6 month hiatus I've added a new area and updated my list of species a bit, trying to make it a bit more synoptic and extant, though with exception to anything that went extinct in "modern" history (like the aurochs). Will try to get new photos when I can. But anyways, there's that.

[bmathison1972]

Coming back after a ~6 month hiatus I've added a new area and updated my list of species a bit, trying to make it a bit more synoptic and extant, though with exception to anything that went extinct in "modern" history (like the aurochs). Will try to get new photos when I can. But anyways, there's that.

Welcome back; look forward to more contributions!

[Koifish]

Bluestem Zoo – New Arrivals

Several brand-new (and not quite as new but kind of) species have been added to the collection:


North American river otter (Lontra canadensis); North America; Schleich 2023

This particular one isn't really new, but one I've had in my personal collection that I originally acquired back when it was released in 1998. However, I've recently decided to "include it into Bluestem" despite its small size and appearence, as toy companies tend to shy away from recently extinct taxa, and they may never produce a decent quagga, so this may be the only one I'll ever have.

Quagga (Equus quagga quagga); South Africa; Club Earth 1998

Same thing with this one, it's one I did originally acquire in 1999, and is the only known figure of this species that exists.

African forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus); tropical forests of West and Central Africa; Play Visions 1999


Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii); Tasmania; Mojo 2022 (I added my own minor custom adjustments)


Red panda (Ailurus fulgens); eastern Himalayas and southwestern China; Mojo 2022


Nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus); North, Central, and South America; Schleich 2002


Red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus); eastern Australia & Tasmania; Safari ltd. 2016


Matschie's tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei); Huon Peninsula of northeastern New Guinea island, Papua New Guinea; Safari ltd. 2020


Green iguana (Iguana iguana); southern Brazil and Paraguay as far north as Mexico; Schleich 2022

This one was actually one of my holy grails – an anatomically-accurate Thylacinus cynocephalus, this one by the Hellbender Museum, which was digitally sculpted, resin 3D printed, and hand-painted. A few companies have reproduced the animal, such as Collecta, Mojo, Southland Replicas, Yowie, and even vintage Starlux from the 60s and 70s (I would actually do anything to just have a collection of tiny Starlux animals, but they are quite rare and sought-after, and I've seen a thylacine figure alone be priced at $200!). However, none have really ever captured the true look of the animal, as they possess a unique physiology different from anything that exists, and are not just a "striped fox" as many companies make them out to be. Sadly still, big name companies such as Safari, Schleich, and Papo have still not produced one, despite it being an iconic animal (and meanwhile, Safari is producing dragons and bigfoots, while Schleich is busy making faeries and unicorns).


Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus); Tasmania & Papua New Guinea*; Hellbender Museum 2022; resin

Last but not least, one that has been on my list for some time now – the Japanese raccoon dog. This is another one that I've not seen really any other company produce (except Japanese ones, for obvious reasons). They can be a bit hard to find, and Kaiyodo is really the only company I know of that has a few variations of them.


Japanese raccoon dog (Nyctereutes viverrinus); Japan; Kaiyodo 2003

These guys are actually on the small side, ranging from 38-51 cm at the shoulder. Surprisingly, he's in a somewhat-accurate scale with my Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus; Kitan-Nature of Japan). Japanese Serows have a standing shoulder height between 55-80 cm.


He's also in scale next to the Tasmanian tiger, which I learned were quite large, much larger than I realized – having a shoulder height of 51-69 cm!


Until next time!

*Many of the animals featured in Bluestem Zoo are considered extinct, but are presented here as if this were an alternate reality, and should reasonably be alive in a perfect world. This means anything lost because of the impact of humans (recent history & late Pleistocene fauna).

[Isidro]

I never heard about this curious thylacine figure. It looks very well done, despite the excessively arched back. Especially I like the face.

You have a standard-sized quagga of good quality with Mojo Fun. I have it.

Technically you can't say "and is the only known figure of this species that exists." In fact, this species is one of the most often made by several western brands and every major brand produced at least one, if not more. They're just not the Congo subspecies, but they're still figures of same species.

That Kitan serow is in my wishlist.

[Koifish]

I never heard about this curious thylacine figure. It looks very well done, despite the excessively arched back. Especially I like the face.

You have a standard-sized quagga of good quality with Mojo Fun. I have it.

Technically you can't say "and is the only known figure of this species that exists." In fact, this species is one of the most often made by several western brands and every major brand produced at least one, if not more. They're just not the Congo subspecies, but they're still figures of same species.

That Kitan serow is in my wishlist.

Yeah, I guess I knew about the Mojo quagga. It could definitely use a re-release and an updated paint job, it's been retired for a while afaik.

I actually didn't know there were more figures of the African Forest buffalo; I had been using the animal toy wiki as a reference, and they only have the Play Visions one listed, but I will definitely have to keep an eye out for them, it is a beautiful species.

Hellbender Museum is an Etsy seller and not someone I would say is "official" like the big-name brands, but I know some Etsy sellers like BEAUTYofBEASTS gets mentioned here on occasion; it's nice that there are hobbyists out there producing animal models of a more professional quality, though I do get that Safari and Schleich have to market to children... and Thylacinus seemed to be quite flexible according to video clips; it seems to be quite the contortionist

[NSD Bashe]

I've seen the Mojo quagga only once on eBay, it was being bid on for at least $50, probably more by the end

[Isidro]

I actually didn't know there were more figures of the African Forest buffalo;

I was meaning there are plenty of figures of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer). Just they're not the forest subspecies, nor any of the other subspecies such as the Cape one, they just represent the species instead.


Looks like that thylacine figure is directly based in that photo :-)

[Koifish]

Bluestem Zoo – New Arrivals

Woolly mammoth (TNG)
Mammuthus primigenius



The woolly mammoth is the heaviest surviving wild land animal in Eurasia. Believed to have been extinct since the last ice age, a small population was found to still be thriving on Russia's remote southern Kamchatka Peninsula in 1987, which had been closed off during the Cold War.

In 1987, a local hunter succeeded in acquiring a skin after ten years of investigating eyewitness accounts throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and learned that reindeer hunters had allegedly sighted them in 1968, 1976, 1980, and 1982. Some think that the Cold War may have helped the population to recover as the Soviet Military blocked access to the area at that time.

Distribution: Formerly inhabitants of the the mammoth steppe, which stretched across northern Eurasia and North America, they are now restricted to Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula Territory Nature Reserve. The males weigh up to 7,300 kg (6 tons), and both sexes have tusks, with female tusks being smaller and thinner. The woolly mammoth moults seasonally, with the heaviest fur being shed during spring. Its behaviour is similar to that of other elephants, using its tusks and trunk for manipulating objects, fighting, and foraging. The diet of the woolly mammoth consists mainly of grasses and sedges. Individuals can reach the age of 60.

This species continues to survive thanks to zoos like Bluestem Zoological Park and their commitment to conservation breeding. Some of the mammoths born in Bluestem have now been successfully released into Kamchatka Peninsula Territory Nature Reserve.

The woolly mammoth is important ecologically, economically and culturally. Like elephants in Africa, woolly mammoths are engineers of grasslands, keeping trees from growing onto the plains and dispersing large amounts of nutrients over immense distances via their dung.

Bluestem Zoological Park works with local communities, regional authorities, government and other non-governmental organizations to save the woolly mammoth and ensure the long-term conservation of the region.

Woolly mammoths received a safe haven in 1989 when the government of Russia declared a new protected area. Called Kamchatka Peninsula  Territory Nature Reserve, this marked a major effort to save the world's most recognizable ice age beast. Bluestem Zoo monitors woolly mammoth populations and its habitat.