Blaine's Synoptic Animal Collection

Very nice additions :)
What is the size of the nautilus?

Pardofelis wrote:

Very nice additions :)
What is the size of the nautilus?

2.8 cm wide; longest dimensions of the shell only are 2.0 cm

The coffinfish especially is interesting :)

And the Kaiyodos are simply phantastic

bmathison1972 wrote:

Pardofelis wrote:

Very nice additions :)
What is the size of the nautilus?

2.8 cm wide; longest dimensions of the shell only are 2.0 cm

Big thanks! Perfect scale for my collection! I will add to my searchlist :)

After i got that striped Japanese loach for Christmas, i thought I'd look to see how many of the Yujin fishes I have or need. Turns out, from the original two sets, I only needed 7 more species, and luckily one of my main contacts had them!
I think I now have all the species from the first two Yujin sets. They may not all be Yujin figure, but at least I have the species (there may have been additional species in the box sets I don't have).
Now that I have this Synoptic Collection, and I have more Yujin figures, I think now that may have been the best figures to come out of Japan!

Amur goby, Rhinogobius brunneus
roughskin sculpin, Trachidermus fasciatus
starry flounder, Platyichthys stellatus
Amur catfish, Silurus asotus
Japanese freshwater eel, Anguilla japonica
barred mudskipper, Periophthalmus argentilineatus (my first mudskipper!!!!!)
willow shiner, Gnathopogon caerulescens

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Congratulations, very nice information,

Barred mudskipper is very interesting.

Yujin's fish are so beautiful. I've always wished they'd done some prehistoric ones.

New arrival today, and one I am super excited for, the Rocky Mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) by Safari Ltd! Of the major companies, Safari is my favorite, followed by Schleich, and lastly CollectA. Interesting story behind this figure. Every now and then, I do an eBay search for select retired Safari figures (this figure, the opossum with babies, bighorn sheep, etc.). This last weekend, I did those searches with no luck. So, I thought, how about Schleich mountain goat on eBay? When I did the search I was surprised to find five Schleich mountain goats for sale on the US eBay! Including this one! That is right, the seller had this Safari figure marketed as Schleich! The starting bid was USD 15.50, or make an offer. I made an offer of $20 and it was accepted! For what it is worth, the Schleich figures varied from USD 12.00 to about USD 25.00.

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EDIT: I think I know why the seller marketed this as Schleich. Apparently the older Schleich model used the same mold as the Safari Figure.

Safari: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
old Schleich: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
more recent Schleich: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

we have seen this phenomenon before, with the Safari desert tortoise and the Vanish Wild polar bear family.

My figure here is marked with 'Safari Ltd', 'Miami, FL', and the year '2007'; the Schleich figure was sold 2005-2007, so maybe Schleich had the original sculpt?
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Great luck you found the one marked "Safari"

The fun thing is that Schleich only made the model from 05-07, and then Safari got the mould and made it with their own marking from 08 till 11


The Vanishing Wild models ( Giraffes, Orange tigers, Snow leopards, Lions, Polar bears, wolves and gorillas) were only sold by Schleich for one year, and they didn't get their own mark in the mould, only on the tag .

The same for most of the Authentics, the first Carnegies, and Monterey bays ...the so called "Fremdserien" ( Foreign series) ( pardon my spelling in German )

A little beautie :)

The mountain goat figures , are always splendid.

And this is one example of them.

I also have this one, but marked as Schleich model. It still is a wonderful model:)

thanks everyone. I have been after this mountain goat since I first decided to finally expand my collection :-)

Now if I can just get the Safari bighorn sheep and Safari opossum with babies!

January acquisitions. A lot more this month than future months probably since it includes some late 2019 releases by Kaiyodo, Yowie Group, and Ikimon and the remaining 2020 Safari figures of interest.

First we have some species I missed the first time around. Some of these I was not aware of, or were not readily available when I wanted them.
1. wandering albatross, Diomedia exulans (CollectA)
A wonderful figure but it is big!
2. koala, Phascolarctos cinereus (Schleich)
this figure replaces the CollectA figure on the branch. I really really like the CollectA figure, but it is a bit big and also the paint job on mine is not very good, with the koala essentially blending in with the branch.
3. Hoffmann's two-toed sloth, Choloepus hoffmanni (Safari Ltd.)
When I focused on Pilosa earlier, I did not know this was a different species than the Mojo Fun figure.
4. African goose, Anser cygnoides domesticus (CollectA)
When I focused on waterfowl earlier, I had not realized this goose is a different species than Papo's Perigord goose. The African goose is not from Africa, but a domestic breed of the swan goose that probably originated in Asia.
5. elk, Cervus canadensis (Safari Ltd.)
Years ago, I had the original Safari elk; I was pleased to learn they updated it!
6. Doedicurus, †Doedicurus clavicaudatus (Safari Ltd.)
I had not bought this figure earlier because there were no other members of Cingulata (armadillos) that I wanted that were readily available.
7. kinkajou, pair, Potos flavus (Noah's Pals)
I recently reviewed these on the Animal Toy Blog

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Safari 2020!
I have already shown the long-tailed weasel and items from the Great Lakes TOOB, so these are the remaining Safari 2020 figures I want...for now...

1. sand tiger shark, Carcharias taurus
I am by no means a shark expert, but it seems this general group of sharks (Odontaspididae) have been relatively ignored by companies.
2. †Shringasaurus indicus
I have not invested in 'dinosaurs' yet (and not sure if or when I will), but will be looking into some prehistoric reptiles, notably therapsids and other synapsids and some of the Crocodyliformes (or croc-like relatives). But this critter is just so cool I had to get it.
3. cowtail stingray, Pastinachus sephen
Even though this is an Incredible Creatures figure, it is not uncomfortably big for my needs.
4. Eurasian eagle owl, Bubo bubo
5. Matschie's tree-kangaroo, Denrolagus matschiei
6. grey wolf, Canis lupus
I was going to get this. Then I wasn't. Then I saw a walkaround by WhiteLightningWolf on STS and decided yeah I need this one too. However, it is not replacing my 2007 Safari wolf, but rather complimenting it.

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Here is the Eursian eagle owl with other members of the genus Bubo:
1. Blakiston's fish owl, B. blackistoni (Kaiyodo)
2. Eurasian eagle owl, B. bubo (Safar Ltd.)
3. great-horned owl, B. virginiensis (Safari Ltd1.)
4. snowy owl, B. scandiacus (Schleich)

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Here is the tree kangaroo with other members of Dendrolagus:
1. Matschie's tree-kangaroo, D. matschiei (Safari Ltd.)
2. Goodfellow' tree-kangaroo, D. goodfellowi (PNSO)
3. Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo, D. lumholtzi (Southlands Replicas)

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Lastly, the grey wolf scales well with the older, howling model and the Arctic wolf figure, both also by Safari Ltd.

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Mini Monkeys!
The two Safari TOOB figures I had a while ago, but was undecided if I was going to retain them. When I finally decided I would, I pursued the two Yowies. These four represent unique (or rarely made or hard-to-get) species, so I am using these figures as placeholders until more standard-sized figures come along.
1. kipunji, Rungwecebus kipunji (Yowie Group)
2. bonobo, Pan paniscus (Safari Ltd.)
3. silky sifaka, Propithecus candidus (Yowie Group)
4. Coquerel's sifaka, Propithecus coquereli (Safari Ltd.)

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Speaking of Yowies, here are most of the figures from the late 2019 set, Colors of the Animal Kingdom, I want to get. I also want the Lear's macaw, and may still get the tree kangaroo (it is tiny though). The trout cod is the last one I wanted from the previous set, Wild Water Series. I must say, promo pics and pics posted to date by forum members do not necessarily do these figures justice. They are nice!

1. Andean mountain cat, Leopardus jacobita
2. Livingston's flying fox, Pteropus livingstonii
3. northern glider, Petaurus abidi
4. scarlet honeycreeper, Drepanis coccinea
The one downfall of this figure is the beak is too thick. For those of you that like to customize figures, you can probably cut the bottom half of the beak off and it would be perfect.
5. kagu, Rhynochetos jubatus
6. common vine snake, Ahaetulla nasuta
7. eastern newt (red eft), Notophthalmus virisescens
8. golden mantella, Mantella aurantiaca
9. trout cod, Maccullochella macquariensis

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Here are some miscellaneous Japanese figures:
1. lumpsucker, Lethotremus awae (Ikimon - Nature Techni Colour)
This figure is simply marketed as 'Cyclopteridae' but most-certainly represents L awae.
2. Asian small-clawed otter, Amblonyx cinereus (Kaiyodo)
3. Fischer's turaco, Tauraco fischeri (Kaiyodo)
4. Oriental turtle dove, Streptopelia orientalis (Kaiyodo)
5. koi, Cyprinus rubrofuscus (Furuta)

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Lastly, here are a pair of prehistoric invertebrates, thanks to pipsxlch. They are both by GeoWorld:
1. ammonite, †Perisphinctes sp.
2. pencil urchin, †Cidaris sp.
pencil urchins in this genus are alive today, so this figure could stand in for an extant species as well.

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Very interesting, Blaine.

I want : Eurasian eagle owl, owl with fish, scarlet honeycreeper, turaco and dove.

Looking great Blaine! From your photos I can see the PNSO tree kangaroo is rather big so I may reject it from my wish list. Now Yowies Oh Yowies. I'm sooo unhappy that they are selling in the USA but not the UK. When I go to San Francisco next year I'll sea if I can pick them up in batches of 30 or more as I want the figures badly!

Advicot wrote:

Looking great Blaine! From your photos I can see the PNSO tree kangaroo is rather big so I may reject it from my wish list.  Now Yowies Oh Yowies. I'm sooo unhappy that they are selling in the USA but not the UK. When I go to San Francisco next year I'll sea if I can pick them up in batches of 30 or more as I want the figures badly!

This newer series of Yowies is NOT selling in the US (as of now); I bought them on eBay from Australia. Yowies will probably never sell in the UK. They originated in Australia and are now based in the U.S.

Yeah, the PNSO kangaroo is a bit big

Those two GeoWorld figures are gorgeous. I'm going to take it they are hard to find though?

Wonderful!

Especially the last 2 are very special

Wonderful newcomers. Thanks to you, I've got a good impression on the newcomers from Safari. And also the Elk really is magnificent.

Fallon and Andreas, I can get more of the pencil urchin/ ammonite carded sets, but it may be a month or so. The place that sells them is a bit over an hour away. They come with an ichthyosaur also, and are magnets- the ichthyosaur at least has a side shaved off. If you're interested, let me know.

Something new and unusual, a leech by an unknown Chinese (?) manufacturer. It is soft, reminiscent of a 'bean'bag', and measures 9.0 cm. Bought it on AliExpress after QuollMate posted a link to it (got a tick as well) on STS. The leech is not identified, but it most-certainly represents the medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758

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