The Curious Compendium 2023 Tour Finale: Griffons!

What a herd!

Thank you Andreas and Alain!

You have a great collection of almost all species, elephants included. I am curious what your favourite Schleich elephant is.

Thank you Luke and Roger!

My favorite of these schleich elephants is easily this one. The whole family that goes with it really, I had SO many fond memories with these guys as a child. My favorite Schleich elephant of all is the old Schleich Asian bull though (same reason, tons of fond memories). My favorite of recent additions are the Eikoh, Papo, and Mojo figures (no particular order).

Not that I don't like elephants, but they weren't a big priority for me until recently... but with the Eofauna and TNG releases I was bitten by the probiscidian bug. I hope for lots more models of these amazing extinct species. Out of those, the Paleoloxodon is my favorite (long story behind it, but also probably because it looks like an Asian elephant with the big ground dragging tusks of old time genetics African elephants).

But now I digress...

Caracals and an African golden cat!


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African golden cats change the color of their fur from golden tawny brown to gray when in captivity. This change usually begins after about 4 months and scientists don't yet know why it happens.

Is the golden cat a homemade?

Yes, from this figure by Safari

The sitting cat is beautiful. congrats.

I can imagine that the elephants you played with are your favourites. The Britains elephants I played with are still my favourites too. The African golden cat looks great, did you repaint it? Interesting fact about its colour, I didn't know.

Thank you Fernando and Roger! I did repaint this model. You can see towards the current end of my customs thread, it has a "sibling" asian golden cat. same cougar toob figure, closely related species customs. The Asian cat got a slight rework of the tail for fluffiness, then both were repainted into an Asian and African golden cat.

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Yes, from this figure by Safari

Good job

Thank you very much Andreas. I am am proud of him.

Here [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] are in my customs thread for those interested. Scroll down a bit.

Looking at them again there, they are NOT identical. The "before" photo is on the previous page. The darker one ended up being the Asian, and was a knock off of some kind of the Safari toob model I turned into an African. The upper half was identical, but the leg positions were reversed/different.

Please Paige, could you tell us more about this elephant ?
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Except me (from Starlux!) you seem to have all the caracals models who have been produiced by the main brands till now!

and bravo for this beautiful golden cat!

Thank you Alain and Kiki!

@Kiki, I believe it is a TM model like the larger model to the right. I will have to look at my records to see if there was a date listed on it but I don't remember one.

Giraffes are next!

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Fun fact, these animals aided in space travel! Because a giraffe calf goes from floating in Mom's womb to walking withing an hour of birth, their leg veins quickly inflate with blood and work hard to get the calf upright and walking quickly. In space, astronauts circulatory system can weaken due to the change in gravity (the heart doesn't have to work as hard to circulate blood). Various space agencies have used secrets from the giraffe to improve this issue for modern astronauts!

Wonderful herd and interesting info!

Great collection!

Thank you my friends. :)

African leopards!
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My fun fact to share is that because this species is so widely distributed, there are variations in coats. Desert dwelling cats will be paler than others (makes sense) but more curiously, the rosettes shape is different! In East Africa the rosettes are patterned in a more circular shape, while in South Africa they are more square in presentation!

Useful for me to see the giraffe comparisons. It looks like the Schleich with sticking out tongue is no taller than the other ones in the photo, or is that because it is a bit further to the back?

The leopards are good too. Our collections have one in common, the smallest, the PV.

That Safari Vanishing Wild giraffe was a dream for me as a kid. Our local toy store that had the nice toys like Breyer had a whole display of the vanishing wild, and I desperately wanted the large adult giraffes and tigers and zebra. My parents were able to get me the baby giraffe and baby zebra for a birthday, since the adults were so expensive, and I still have them and treasure that memory! Seeing that big guy brought back that rush of nostalgia, haha.

And wonderful leopards, I was so obsessed as many kids are with the "black panther" which explains why they made so many of them. Seeing all those little AAA cubs also brings back great memories.

You caught them all!

Thank yoy everyone!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], I would say the eating giraffe is approximately as tall as the newest giraffe family. The females on the left of it (2 variations) are smaller like the old Schleich figures.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], I got my first VW giraffe calf at the Hogle zoo in SLC Utah shortly after I first started collecting officially as a preteen. I didn't even know what it was at the time (I got the howling wolf pup, and my AAA/WR standing black bear at the time too). Sadly, his dramatically swishing tail broke off! I was heartbroken (it appears to be a common issue). Less than a year ago (I think?) I got a "replacement" calf and the big male. Hope to get the female someday. I have a few other odds and ends from the series too. Theres not a lot of love for AAA anymore but I enjoy most of their items. At the very least I feel like they paved the road for these toys.

@Alain, thank you! There's lots more out there but I do have a sampling.