Blaine's Synoptic Animal Collection

Mooooooooooove over, it is time for one of the biggest, and frankly one of my absolute favorite groups, the family Bovidae. I have been using a random number generator to decide what group I cover each month. I was wondering when this group would have its turn.

As expected, the collection draws very heavily from CollectA and Safari, with a few scattered from other brands. Being larger animals, not much from the Japanese manufacturers, but there is one Kitan Club and one PNSO figure here.

Taxa are arranged here by subfamily, tribe, and in one case domestication status (or however they space out efficiently).

Subfamily Aepycerotinae (impala).
This monotypic subfamily is represented by the impala, Aepyceros melampus (Papo).

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Subfamily Alcelaphinae (wildebeest, hartebeest, etc.)
1. hirola, Beatragus hunteri (CollectA)
2. black wildebeest, Connochaetes gnou (CollectA)
3. blue wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus (Safari LTD)

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Subfamily Antilopinae, tribe Antilopini (gazelles and dwarf antelopes)
1. blackbuck, Antilope cervicapra (CollectA)
2. springbok, Antidorcas marsupialis (CollectA)
3. Thomson's gazelle, Eudorcas thomsonii (PNSO)
4. Dama gazelle, Nanger dama (CollectA)

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Subfamily Antilopinae, tribe Saigini (Eurasian steppe gazelles)
Only one, the saiga, Saiga tatarica (CollectA)

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Subfamily Bovinae, tribe Boselaphini (four-horned antelopes)
Only one, the nilgai, Boselaphus tragocamelus (CollectA)

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Subfamily Bovinae, tribe Bovini (cattle)
The systematics of this group is under debate; you may or may not agree with my taxonomic placement of the domesting breeds :)

Wild Types:
1. American bison, Bison bison (CollectA)
I really expected to get the 2018 Safari figure, but in the end the CollectA figure appealed to me more.
2. wild water buffalo, Bubalus arnee (CollectA)
3. saola, Pseudoryx nghetinhensis (CollectA)
4. gaur, Bos gaurus (Mojo Fun)
5. cape buffalo, Syncerus caffer caffer (Safari LTD)

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Domestic Breeds:
1. Ongole cattle, Bos taurus indicus (Safari LTD)
2. Brahman cattle, Bos taurus indicus (CollectA)
3. Hereford cattle, Bos taurus taurus (CollectA)
4. Ankole-Watusi, Bos taurus africanus (CollectA)
5. carabao, Bubalus bubalis (Safark LTD)

In the future I may invest in more domestic cattle; it is one species I do not mind betting multiple breeds of!

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Subfamily Bovinae, tribe Tragelaphini (kudus, elands, and bushbucks)
1. giant eland, Taurotragus derbianus (CollectA)
2. mountain nyala, Tragelaphus buxtoni (CollectA)
3. bongo, Tragelaphus eurycerus (CollectA)
4. greater kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros (Papo)
5. lesser kudu, Tragelaphus imberbis (Safari LTD)

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Subfamily Caprinae, tribe Caprini (sheep and goats)
1. Himalayan tahr, Hemitragus jemlahicus (CollectA)
2. Tadjik markhor, Capra falconeri heptneri (CollectA)
3. domestic goat, Capra aegagrus hircus (Papo)
4. European mouflon, Ovis orientalis musimon (CollectA)
5. Barbary sheep, Ammotragus lervia (CollectA)

There are still some from this group I want. I was going to get CollectA's Jacob sheep, but it wasn't available from my main sources. I also plan on getting the Papo Merino sheep when it releases later this year. I also would have liked the retired Safari desert bighorn sheep, but it was not readily available.

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Subfamily Caprinae, tribe Naemorhedini (serows, mountain goats, and chamois)
1. chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra (Papo)
2. Japanese serow, Capricornis crispus (Kitan Club - Nature Techni Colour)
Luckily, this is a small bovid, otherwise most Japanese figures are too small for me for this family. The Kitan figure is a tad bigger than any from Kaiyodo, making it scale better with my other bovids (the chamois in this image scales on the large side...).

I would have liked the retired Safari Rocky Mountain goat, but it was not readily available. I am not fond of the CollectA mountain goats, surprisingly.

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Subfamily Caprinae, tribe Ovibovini (musk ox and takin)
One for now, the musk ox, Ovibos moschatus (CollectA)
I really wanted the Safari one, but in the end the CollectA figure won out. It is just painted better. That is a curse sometimes with Safari: nice sculpts but poor paint application (musk ox, babirusa, etc.)

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Subfamily Hippotraginae (oryx)
1. Arabian oryx, Oryx leucoryx (Safari LTD)
2. scimitar-horned oryx, Oryx dammah (CollectA)
3. giant sable, Hippotragus niger (Mojo Fun)
4. gemsbok, Oryx gazella (Papo)

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Subfamily Pantholopinae (chiru)
This monotypic subfamily is represented by the chiru, Pantholopa hodgsonii (CollectA)

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Subfamily Reducinae (waterbucks and reedbucks)
One for now, the waterbuck, Kobus ellipsiprymnus (CollectA)

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Wonderful Artylodactyla models. I already have the Jacob Sheep and it is also a very beautiful model.

This is truely amazing

Good choices!
Have you seen the wisent from Bullyland/Schleich?

I think the Wisent from Bullyland is better than the one from Schleich and I think it's still available.

Bloodrayne wrote:

Good choices!
Have you seen the wisent from Bullyland/Schleich?

Megaptera wrote:

I think the Wisent from Bullyland is better than the one from Schleich and I think it's still available.

I am aware of those figures, but they were not available from the 2-3 sources I was using for these. I will fill in gaps in the future and hope to add a wisent to my collection. Maybe someone will make a new one.

EDIT: The Schleich wisent is on eBay in the US, but after looking at pics of the Bullyland one as well, I think the latter is much better. Maybe I'll hold out for a Bully one :)

Wow, the bovids have pretty good coverage! Except for the smaller antelopes, I guess (duikers, suni, etc.)

For September, we will be looking at the remaining orders of birds. I will post an order or two every now and then this month. First up, Columbiformes and Cuculiformes.

Order Columbiformes (pigeons)
1. domestic pigeon, Columba livia domestica (Kaiyodo)
2. Victoria crowned pigeon, Goura victoria (Arboreum Artwork)
3. dodo, †Raphus cucullatus (Safari LTD)
4. white-bellied green pigeon, Treron sieboldii (Kaiyodo)

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Order Cuculiformes (cuckoos)
1. Sumatran ground cuckoo, Carpococcyx viridis (Yowie Group)
2. common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus (Kaiyodo)
3. greater roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus (Safari LTD)

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Very nice birds. specially the Victoria crowned pigeon and cuckoo.

Thanks for sharing.

Wonderful birds. Where do you got the Safari Dodo?

Megaptera wrote:

Wonderful birds. Where do you got the Safari Dodo?

I found it on eBay. Every now and then I check eBay for some of their retired figures and just last week the dodo was posted. I grabbed while I could!!!!

Congratulations
I particularly like Victoria Crowned Pigeon, I hope a great brand will make it. The Yowie birds are also still missing in my collection and am looking for them.

Beautieful birds :)

It's always a big pleasure discovering your so rich, so instructive and so well presented collection! I agree most of your choices!.. and wonder how do you find the place to display a so important collection!

Then, I will also check ebay for a Dodo:)

Caracal wrote:

It's always a big pleasure discovering your so rich, so instructive and so well presented collection! I agree most of your choices!.. and wonder how do you find the place to display a so important collection!

Thanks Caracal! All my wall space in the living room is for display cabinets LOL

bmathison1972 wrote:

Megaptera wrote:

Every now and then I check eBay for some of their retired figures

If you ever find the Safari retired California Condor and Malayan Tapir for reasonable prices, please please please please tell me!

Pardofelis wrote:

bmathison1972 wrote:

Megaptera wrote:

Every now and then I check eBay for some of their retired figures

If you ever find the Safari retired California Condor and Malayan Tapir for reasonable prices, please please please please tell me!

Ok:)

Thank you all for the nice comments.

We continue the remaining birds this month with the kingfishers and kookaburras (order Coraciiformes).

1. common kingfisher, Alcedo atthis (Papo)
There are nicer figures by Japanese companies but the Papo figure had a charm about it I liked.
2. ruddy kingfisher, Halcyon coromanda (Kaiyodo)
3. crested kingfisher, Megaceryle lugubris (Kaiyodo)
4. Ryukyu kingfisher, Todiramphus cinnamominus miyakoensis (Kaiyodo)
5. laughing kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae (Safari Ltd.)
I must admit, I was really struggling with a kookaburra figure. I liked the morphology of the Safari figure, but worried it was too big. The S&N figure seemed to be a better size, but I wasn't crazy about the sculpt (among other things, the beak appears too short). The Bandai figure seems to be a mix of the laughing and blue-winged kookaburras, and with bright pink feet! I finally decided on the Safari figure. It is a bit big (compared to the kingfishers here) but honestly it's not so big as I feared. I think I made the right choice (and thanks to the STS community for helping me decide).

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Your choice was the Safari :)

Perfect choice. The one from Safari is really well made.

bmathison1972 wrote:

Order Anura, family Dendrobatidae (poison dart frogs)
There are a lot of nice examples of these that are not readily available (especially those by Kitan Club/Ikimon) or not so nice (e.g., Safari LTD TOOB) that are readily available. So, for starters I only have a few examples, a mix of Japanese and Western companies.
1. dyeing dart frog, Dendrobates tinctorius (Yujin)
2. phantasmal poison frog, Epipedobates tricolor (Yowie USA)
3. strawberry poison dart frog, Oophaga pumilio (Papo)
4. golden poison arrow frog, Phyllobates terribilis (Papo)

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The Papo black and red frog isn't a strawberry poison dart frog, Oophaga pumilio, it is a Silverstone's poison frog Ameerega silverstonei

Just went through all the figures posted so far, wonderful collection! I especially enjoyed your non main brand figures such as asian companies and likaon. I should work on finding some more of these type to add to my own. Thanks for posting your great treasures!

[quote="Kikimalou"]

bmathison1972 wrote:

The Papo black and red frog isn't a strawberry poison dart frog, Oophaga pumilio, it is a Silverstone's poison frog Ameerega silverstonei

Thanks [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] I thought the color was odd for O. pumilio. For what it is worth, is that a 'community-based' ID or did Papo intend to sell it as that species?