Wildlife Wonders by Safari Ltd.

[brontodocus]

Safari's Wildlife Wonders series is more or less the successor of the retired Vanishing Wild line. The figures are hollow but mostly they are exceptionally well executed and life-like. I was lucky to get the entire collection as a gift from Safari Ltd. in 2010 and of course I bought all subsequent releases. It is my favourite line of large mammal toy figures. For 2013, a Cheetah figure will be added to the series.

So this is the whole series as of 2012:


Individual photos soon!

[tyrantqueen]

My boyfriend has the wolf From what I can tell, it's a beautifully made model.

[brontodocus]

Yes, it's a fine sculpt. But it's also by far the smallest figure of the series (still larger than most other wolf figures).

So, let's start with the biggest of them all...


Loxodonta africana (Blumenbach, 1797); African Bush Elephant. No. 111089. Shoulder height 165 mm, scale approx. 1:18 - 1:25 scale. Human figure is approx. 1:22.5 scale. So this is maybe the elephant figure you need for dioramas with antelopes in the 1/20 range.

[brontodocus]

Next one:


Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata de Winton, 1899; Reticulated Giraffe. No. 111189. Height 232 mm (approx. 250 mm if it was fully erect), scale approx. 1:17 - 1:21 (1:24 for world record specimen). Human figure is approx. 1:22.5 scale, Papo Okapi is approx. 1:17 - 1:23 scale.

[critter]

I really love this set, even though they are a bit too big for my taste. The only one I have is the African Elephant pictured by brontodocus above. It is fantastic. Thanks for the group picture at the start of this thread. It's a very nice shot!

[Jetoar]

Safari WLW are beautiful figures but other brands are doing good figures for example, the last elephants of Schleich or  biga cats of Papo  .

[brontodocus]

Thanks, critter & Jetoar!



Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758); Lion. No. 111289. Snout-vent length + tail length = 213 + 137 mm, shoulder height 112 mm, scale approx. 1:10 - 1:11.




Panthera tigris altaica (Temminck, 1844); Siberian Tiger. No. 111389. Snout-vent length = 215 mm, shoulder height 108 mm, scale approx. 1:10 - 1:11.

[Jetoar]

Thanks for share friend. I see these images better than Safari Catalogue, congratulations  .

[brontodocus]

Thanks, so I shall proceed then...



Equus zebra Linnaeus, 1758; Mountain Zebra. No. 111489. Shoulder height 115 mm, scale approx. 1:10 - 1:13.





Gorilla gorilla gorilla (Savage & Wyman, 1847); Western Lowland Gorilla. No. 111589. Height 141 mm, scale approx. 1:8 - 1:9.

[brontodocus]

This one is one of my favourite figures from the series:





Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774; Polar Bear. No. 111689. Shoulder height 118 mm, snout-vent length 260 mm, scale approx. 1:9 - 1:13.



Panthera onca (Linnaeus, 1758); Black Jaguar. No. 111789. Shoulder height 102 mm, scale approx. 1:7 - 1:8.

Edit: D'oh! Had to delete one before everybody notices that I posted the same photo twice...

[brontodocus]

Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus, 1758; Hippopotamus. No. 111889. Shoulder height 99 mm, scale approx. 1:14 - 1:17.



Ceratotherium simum (Burchell, 1817); White Rhinoceros. No. 111989. Shoulder height 120 mm, scale approx. 1:13 - 1:16.
_{Together with Safari Ltd. / WS Wildlife Spotted Hyena, Crocuta crocuta, Papo and Safari Ltd. / WS Wildlife Lionesses, Panthera leo, and PlayVisions Honey Badger, Mellivora capensis.}

[brontodocus]

Panthera tigris Linnaeus, 1758; White Tiger. No. 112089. Shoulder height 108 mm, scale approx. 1:9 (or 1:10 - 1:11 for P. t. altaica). The figure is officially named "White Siberian Tiger" although those aren't known in the wild and most captive white tigers we see are Bengal Tigers (P. t. tigris) or crossbreeds of different subspecies.




Ailuropoda melanoleuca (David, 1869); Giant Panda. No. 112189. Shoulder height 112 mm, scale approx. 1:5 - 1:7.

[Jetoar]

I think that the best of this collection is the giant panda, from my point of view  .

[brontodocus]

For me it's difficult to decide... the Polar Bear, Asian Elephant, the two apes, Okapi, White Rhino... no, I can't really say.





Pongo pygmaeus (Linnaeus, 1760); Bornean Orangutan, male. No. 112289. Height 124 mm, scale approx. 1:7 - 1:10.



Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758; Asian Elephant.. No. 112389. Scale of Papo tiger is approx. 1:16 - 1:18.




Okapia johnstoni (P.L. Slater, 1901); Okapi. No. 112489. Snout-vent length 195 mm, shoulder height 125 mm, scale approx. 1:12 - 1:13.

Edit: Forgot to include the Okapi's item number...

[Jetoar]

Okapi is mazing I have the Schleich Okapi but I think that this Okapi is better than Schleich  .

[brontodocus]

I have this and the Papo which is nice, too, but I do like the WW figure more. The detail is awesome, it even has visible facial veins.

Two more to go (yes, I arranged them by item number):




Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780; American Black Bear. No. 112589. Snout-vent length 205 mm, shoulder height 100 mm, scale approx. 1:7 - 1:11.



Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758; Wolf. No. 112689. Snout-vent length 135 mm, shoulder height 86 mm, scale approx. 1:7 - 1:11.

[sbell]

These are great and well made figures. But as a parent they drive me nuts, because they're huge and hard to store (the IC line causes the same problems sometimes).

[brontodocus]

Same here. and I can't even display my IC figures, there are far too many. I have a shelf for my Wildlife Wonders but I'm running out of space there, too. I'll see if I can squeeze next year's cheetah in.

[Kikimalou]

Same here. and I can't even display my IC figures, there are far too many. I have a shelf for my Wildlife Wonders but I'm running out of space there, too. I'll see if I can squeeze next year's cheetah in.

WW size is a BIG problem for my displays too. But I guess I won't be able to live without that Black bear, it is really something.
For teh cheetah, I'm sure you will find a small place 

[brontodocus]

Yes, the cheetah won't be that big, apparently. Not much larger than the wolf. So my problems with displaying the series might not start before 2014... Oh, I'd rather have space problems than not seeing more and more of the series.