The Curious Compendium 2023 Tour Finale: Griffons!

You have more red wolves than I have gray foxes. Well, I don't customize models so...

Wonderful customised mexican wolves!

Thank you everyone!

Wisents are next!

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Another species thay suffered a near extinction they are now enjoying recovery progress. There is an estimated 3200 bison in the wild. It is thought that the wisent evolved from hybridization between the now extinct aurochs and steppe bison.

Beautiful pair! I love the Bullyland one

The both figures in the toyworld

Interesting facts about the European bison. I didn't know about that. :)

widukind wrote:

The both figures in the toyworld

If you mean the only two figures, Toy Animal Wiki shows a few more. I have myself more than two of them. If it is only considering the major brands, that's right. 1. Schleich, 2. Bullyland and let's hope it don't last so long to see [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], maybe Mojö Fun could be a good guess.

Roger wrote:

Interesting facts about the European bison. I didn't know about that. :)

widukind wrote:

The both figures in the toyworld

If you mean the only two figures, Toy Animal Wiki shows a few more. I have myself more than two of them. If it is only considering the major brands, that's right. 1. Schleich, 2. Bullyland and let's hope it don't last so long to see [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], maybe Mojö Fun could be a good guess.

I never recogniced that, thank you

Thank you everyone!

Arctic wolves!

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One of my favorite fact for these animals is that they have a unique mechanism to retain heat. It is called vasoconstriction; put simply they can constrict their veins in their extremeties to reduce heat loss. Their abdomen is covered in woolly hair to retain heat, but on their legs it is shorter. Because of this they constrict the veins going down to their paws which reduces heat transfer of warm blood. This in turn means that blood leaving the body trunk and going to the feet cools while blood coming back up to tye trunk warms up. In this way it greatly reduces the body heat loss in their extreme climate. Many arctic animals do this, but arctic wolves are some of the best at it according to thermal camera studies.

And now as a shameless plug... here is my first ATB article on my favorite model. It will be joined by another arctic wolf article soon!

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Wonderful pack!

 About wisents  it's a pity there are so few! Maybe the main brands suspect confusion risk with the american bison.. Papo is my hope for the next one..

I love Arctic wolves and Safari's remains a favorite. Which one do you like most, Papo or Schleich? I enjoy doing these silly questions.

Very interesting mechanism for heating by vasoconstriction.

Nice wolves you have of the artic world.

Thank you everyone!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], for me I like the Papo wolf better. I do really think its a nice sculpt for an arctic wolf, its only drawback is how static it is in position. The Schleich has that weird texture they experimented with... its more like the new Valais sheep than a wolf.

widukind wrote:

Roger wrote:

Interesting facts about the European bison. I didn't know about that. :)

widukind wrote:

The both figures in the toyworld

If you mean the only two figures, Toy Animal Wiki shows a few more. I have myself more than two of them. If it is only considering the major brands, that's right. 1. Schleich, 2. Bullyland and let's hope it don't last so long to see [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], maybe Mojö Fun could be a good guess.

I never recogniced that, thank you

There is small scale 5 pcs Mertens wisent set and I believe Heinerle/Manurba made some wisents too... :)

Rocky Mountain Elk!

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Elk bugling is done not only through their mouths but with their nostrils also! Both together make the unique howling pitches. To some degree... elk can count! In this instance, studies have shown that if presented with the choice between bulls to mate with, a cow will always choose the bull with more points on their rack!

Superb collection of Elks!!

I need the newer standard sized Safari elk. I have the old one and I don't like it that much.

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Thank you everyone!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], for me I like the Papo wolf better. I do really think its a nice sculpt for an arctic wolf, its only drawback is how static it is in position. The Schleich has that weird texture they experimented with... its more like the new Valais sheep than a wolf.

Thanks for your reply Paige. I think I like the Papo most too. The sheep texture is also not of my appreciation.

Thank you Taylor and Roger! Safari is the only big brand to even attempt an elk, let alone both that and a red deer. I sincerely hope for a cow and calf someday to go with their bull.

I like the two figures on the right side at the back.

I love elk! What brand are the females up top? Are they repaints? I feel like I've seen them in a previous post.

@Fernando, those are the Wild Republic polybag and Treehouse Kids models. :)

@Jolie, those are customs of mine.

Honshū and Hokkaido wolves!
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There are no wolves on this island today. The last Honshū wolf was killed in 1905 in central Japan while the last Hokkaido was deemed extinct in 1889. They went extinct due to mixture of disease (rabies and distemper introduction) and hunting.

Honshū were the smallest of the wolves, only growing to be about 35 inches long and 12 inches tall. They resembled coyotes and jackals more than wolves. The Honshū has been genetically proven to have descended from the extinct pleistocene wolf while the Hokkaido is descended from modern gray wolves. The Hokkaido were built more like modern gray wolves in size.