The Curious Compendium 2023 Tour Finale: Griffons!

Great family No CollectA ?
If you have time could you show a comparison picture of the Safari Ltd and the Southlands Replicas ?

Thank you everyone!

Kiki, I haven't caught up on CollectA releases yet, but the new Koala is on the list. I will try to do some walkarounds of those two. I will be traveling the middle of next week for 7 days so it may be a while before I can get it done. :)

Possums from down under. :)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Fun fact, possums are only pregnant for about 17 days! Seems like a short time, but remember that they are born very "prematurely" compared to other mammal species.

Kind of makes you wonder what makes placental 'better'/more successful than marsupial. Seems delivering early enough to avoid maternal harm/death (including being slowed up by a big belly) would be a plus. Since it generally seems best for a mom to survive to deliver again than for a baby to survive only a short time without a mom- or both to die, being able to unload in times of great danger would seem adaptive.

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Thank you everyone!

Kiki, I haven't caught up on CollectA releases yet, but the new Koala is on the list. I will try to do some  walkarounds of those two. I will be traveling the middle of next week for 7 days so it may be a while before I can get it done. :)

Don't worry, as said the sage to Tom Selleck (can't remember the movie) "The ox is slow but the mountain is patient"  

No possums from America ?

pipsxlch wrote:

Kind of makes you wonder what makes placental 'better'/more successful than marsupial. Seems delivering early enough to avoid maternal harm/death (including being slowed up by a big belly) would be a plus. Since it generally seems best for a mom to survive to deliver again than for a baby to survive only a short time without a mom- or both to die, being able to unload in times of great danger would seem adaptive.

It is not known whether being a placental mammal is a decisive advantage over marsupials. The disappearance of the latter from the northern hordes in South America is perhaps due to contingency rather than to an "a priori" superiority.

In Australia, marsupial predators suffer from competition from cats, but the kangaroos have a good laugh about it.

This is a bit dated but you should re-read Stephen Jay Gould's "Panda's Thumb", I think there is an essay on it.

Thank you, Christophe, I haven't read that one but I have enjoyed Gould's writings. I shall look for it.

Love the possums! Especially the little curly-que in the nayab's tail.

Man, I fell behind! While on my trip, since I should have a little extra time, I will do a few more frequent uploads to catch up.

Next are wombats, common and southern hairy-nosed respectively.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Fun fact... wombats have cube shaped feces. This is a result of how digested waste dries out inside their colon as well as the structural features of their colon (2 "sides" are non flexible, while 2 are flexible = creating the distinctive shape).

Thank you my friend!

Next is Numbats! Here are my two.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Some fun facts, they eat termites and don't chew them, thus they do not have "proper" teeth (with cusps etc.) only blunt pegs. They also do not have a proper pouch for babies, only skin folds that sort of cover their suckling young (like other dasyurid/carnivorous marsupials).

Nice pair, I prefer the Yowie but the Nayab isn't too bad, it's time to add the S&N

That reminds me! Kiki, I do have (a) oppossums (the Safari transporting babies) but it will be presented with North America when I get to that category.

Thank you both!

Wow the yowies usa numbat is marvellous

I want it .

Thank you Fernando!

Now my group for the platypus, perhaps one of the strangest animals ever! Fun fact, look up some of its extinct ancient relatives... you won't regret it :)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

So many nice figures

Great family the bigger one is a AAA ?

Great to see comparisons from such an extensive collection!

Thank you everyone! Kiki, the biggest one there is a nayab/wild republic mould (unsure which brands sold this figure). My only AAA is the puggle on the far right, bottom row.

Echidna! A super strange animal in more ways than one... I think my favorite "fact" to share here is that they have very odd skeletons! Right up there in weirdness to the manatee skeleton for me!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Indeed it would be fun to watch how a Paleoartist would sculpt a model based on the skeleton view only.

Thats always a fun thing to ponder, looking at the skeleton for any animal and imagining how it may be reconstructed in the future. Look at Iguanodon for instance! Or Spinosaurus... bith have changed radically over time.

I missed a group of macropods... Quokkas!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

My "fact" for these guys is thay, as cute and cuddly as they often appear, and despite being known as one of the "happiest" animals in the world, quokkas can still bite! It is probably best to just admire them from afar.