the False Garial made by Schleich

Hello and welcome to my first walkaround. I want to show you the False Gharial aka Sunda Gharial / Gavial ( Tomistoma schlegelii), which was made by Schleich from 2000-2004:

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As you can see, it has the typical head shape of a False Gharial. Moreover, Schleich has done more or less a good paintjob. The figure has also the dark spots, which are typical for this species. The snout of this species is very long and slender. Here you can see some references from the Leipziger Zoo:

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First, I was thinking it could be a Ganges Gharial, but after I visited the Leipziger Zoo, I had the first idea, that this one is a False Gharial. And also Schleich gave a hint. When it was released, Schleich only call it Gharial. But in the booklet of 2000, you can see that Schleich put it to Malaysia, Borneo and Java and not to India.
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WOW ! You made my day

I LOVE it, when there is a walkaround of one of the old beautied, - and this one is wonderful
Your fine photos remind me why I began collection model animals as an adult ! Thankyou very much

Very nice! I didn't even know they made this species. It's such an interesting looking animal.

Great walkaround :)

Thank you. Later I can also do a walkaround about the Galapagos Tortoise Complex:)

Oh yes please

I know I may look sometimes like a long-snouted crocodile but I wished I could debat it better with you.
First, thanks for opening this topic. It is a very interesting subject and, if you are right, it increases the interest of this figure once Papo's version is clearly an Indian gharial. Your points to explain why it is a false gharial and not a Ganges gharial, are very plausible. I know there are some croc experts on forum and I'd love to know also their opinion.

Thank you very much for this walkaround Megaptera I wish it is only a first step

Thsi oldies was very false as a gharial, it could be a more convincing false gharial indeed

That ID would explain why it looks so different from the Papo figure. Yes, they are different, but the snouts are very very different in them.

I will accept this identification! Although, really, I'm no croc expert.

The Phylegenetic Museum of Jena has a skull of a False Gharial and it has the same shape like the head of the Gharial from Schleich. Maybe I can find a picture of it:)

Hello. Well, Schleich is't the mostt accurate brand for most of the species they made, and most reptiles are crap, except for some nice new ones such as the bearded dragon.
And this specific picture is a "cutarial",.... The scutes in the neck region actually are typical for false gharial, but then the skull shape is more fantasy/produrction/intergrade, same as the snout, which resembles more the indian gharial. So a Schleichy fantasy toy....not more.
And the comparison with the Papo one is a little like comparing water with wine.
Here a classical drawing of a false gharials head:
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Everyone knows that Schleich is not a creator of non-perfect animals. But this looks all in all more lile a False Gharial. It has the black spots on the body, which abscent on Indian Gharials. Even the head shape looks similar from above. It is like the new Leopard from Schleich. I have never seen such a slim Leopard in real.

At the end, I believe that Schleich showed us with the booklet, that we have here a False Gharial. It shows that it is native to Borneo, Sumatra and Java. This is also the home of the real one:

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And here again a head shape comparison:

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The snout is not slender enough to represent an Indian Gharial:

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And the end, here is a comparison between the False Gharial from Schleich and the Indian Gharial from Papo:

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As in many other Schleich figures, it is just almost impossible to be sure of the species just based on figure's observation. observation When I acquired initially this gharial, I made it convinced it was an Indian gharial, at least, it was assumed like that for whole community. I never liked the figure too much, we see the good manufacturing quality but the proportions and general shape I always found very poor for a gharial or any other species of crocodile. But, I think it is a question of design, Schleich always loved to make figures somewhat cartoonish with a friendly looking what in my opinion could work in a koala but not in a croc.
The head is very big, snout and legs are very thick and the body is ridiculously short. Result is very chubby as Kiki used to tell. Chubby style on toys do still work but it was a fever when the century started. I've always thought that the obvious discrepancies between this figure and a real Indian gharial, were just because of these design features. When thinking in it as a false gharial, I see the exact same problems but, in the case of the snout and coloring, they're not anymore so dramatic, surely the body keeps being too short and general chubby look remains. So, while it works as a bad representation of an Indian gharial, it works as a not so bad representation of a False gharial. Adding the good considerations Megaptera added to the subject, it makes me believe also that even, if Schleich originally considered to make an Indian gharial, all evidences point that they used the false gharial as inspiration to the design. Afterall, a False looks a chuuby Indian. As it was just marketed as gharial, I really tend to accept it as a false. :) ... and I am not doing it based on collecting convenience because I still keep not liking too much this figure.

Yes, it is just a typical figure from Schleich:D

It made my day to learn that I have one more species than I thought, having both the Indian gharial from Papo and this false gharial from Schleich

I've read the entire topic again and I decided to put it as a false gharial at the Toy Animal Wiki. I placed there a link to this discussion.

Yes, beyond Megaptera's interpretations, the distribution map provided by Schleich is an objective evidence.