Collection Review: Schleich Black Leopard and Jaguar

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Figure Brand: Schleich
Figure Name(s): Black leopard (14774) & Jaguar (14769)
Sex: Males
Name: Black Leopard- Bagheera
Jaguar- Tjolo (He who hunts alone)
Year Made: both cats- 2017
Observations/Thoughts: Lovely wild cats these pair, so I thought I’d look at them both together as they’re both from Schleich, and both wild cats.
However, I do notice that the sculpt for the black leopard and the jaguar are both the exact same mold only repainted. That’s slightly disappointing, but it doesn’t stop me from enjoying them.

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First, Bagheera the Black Leopard is a really cool little figure, he’s not sculpted into a particularly dynamic pose, just with one paw forward, sorta like he’s stopped stalking something in the forest just to stop and listen. What I love about Bagheera is his coat pattern isn’t just a block of one colour: black, looking closely shows that he does have a speckled pattern too, which is what lots of black leopards actually have. Gives their coat in real life a lovely, nearly metallic sheen. I called Bagheera that, because of course there IS a black leopard in the jungle book.

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The jaguar, Tjolo has the same pose, with the front paw slightly forward and of course, his body details are a bit more easy to make out, such as the speckled coat and the wide staring eyes. I like him a lot but less so than Bagheera, probably because he’s just a spotted cat, not a wholly black one? Nothing really unusual there with him. I came across the name Tjolo in an issue of the National Geographic, in reference to an artivcle about a particular big cat. I can't for the life of me remember what African country and culture the name originates from, but I wrote it down as meaning 'He who Hunts Alone.' I may be wrong with that one, but it still seems very fitting for this big cat.  
I also wish they had different poses, not just the same pose/model but repainted.
Rating: Black Leopard: 4/5
Jaguar: 3/5

Thanks Widukind

It is important to tell you that both figures are jaguars, the American feline. There's no leopard in your pictures.
So, since the black one is just a melanistic variiation of the standard jaguar, it is not unusual that a brand uses the same exact mold. It would be quite disappoionting if the same mold was being used for a jaguar and a leopard but no, Schleich leopard is different and you can see it in this link.
Even if this jaguar is not as great as the previous one from Schleich, I find it a very good figure and the fact the black version has rosets, makes it really special. I'd give easily 4 stars to both of them.

Huh... interesting Roger, obviously the website/shop it was bought from was incorrectly displaying him as a jaguar so...

Just call it a black panther and u cant go wrong as both black leopards and black jaguars are identified as that :)

You know I think I might a6point62, for argument sakes! ^^

Oh my beloved big kitties! The black panther is a part of my collection already, he doesn't have a name though unfortunately. Maybe someday I will give him one (hopefully). Bagheera will go to a female black panther because in the russian version of the jungle book Bagheera is actually a female (I think that she was always one of my very favourite characters).
The black panther bullyland cub I own is actually named Mowgli.
I really like his colouring. I'm so proud of schleich's colour designers that they gave him a detailed coloration with the rosettes and not just a flat black. But for some reason I really don't like the mould's face. I don't why but it just disturbs me.
That's why I won't get the "regular" version of the Jaguar even though I might like that one even a little bit more. But I already have the older mould which is much prettier (at least in my opinion) so I don't need another male for now.
Tjolo is a really nice and exotic name and it does suit this majestic animal.
A little trick how to distinguish a Jaguar from a Leopard (if the model is painted correctly): examine the rosettes of your model. When you have a Jaguar in front of you, you will find little black dots inside of them. A Leopard won't have them.
And I would also recommend you just to call them black panthers if you're not entirely sure. In German and in Russian we actually don't have different words for black jaguar and black leopard. We just call them panther in German or pantera (пантера) in Russian.

Interesting Katy...I totally didn't know that Bagheera was female in the Russian version of the book? I can see why the face would be a little off putting to some, the intense staring eyes I think? There's something about them...

I was so shocked when I found out that Bagheera is actually a male in the original version (or at least in the Disney movies as I never red the book in English) . Poor little me back then.
I also forgot to mention that this trick works only for adult individuals. Jaguar cubs don't have those spots as they come through with age. So unfortunately this trick is absolutely useless for cubs.
And yeah those eyes are a little bit scary...

Katy Leven wrote:

I was so shocked when I found out that Bagheera is actually a male in the original version (or at least in the Disney movies as I never red the book in English) . Poor little me back then.
I also forgot to mention that this trick works only for adult individuals. Jaguar cubs don't have those spots as they come through with age. So unfortunately this trick is absolutely useless for cubs.
And yeah those eyes are a little bit scary...

I read Bagheera was voiced in the Soviet Union version by the actress Klara Rumyanova. It is really weird when the gender is changed from a version to another.

In Polish version Bagheera was also a female. It may be because of the name ending with the letter "a" or because in Polish "pantera" is a female noun (all nouns are gendered in this language). I think it doesn't really matter for the story line so why not :)

I agree the Schleich model has a nice paintwork and the rosettes with dots in the middle are more typical for jaguar than leopard. The sculpture works a bit better for a leopard I think. Or a young jaguar with a long tail?

It can be jarring alright at first Roger, when a character your used to is a different gender, but once you get used to it, you don't take much notice of it I find.