Rtas' main collection

You know me and Roger have similar tastes, so is not surprising that we both think that the election should be between Safari and CollectA's (that is the one I have). I in particular find the Schleich bucks ugly, but only because of the antlers.
Real alive WTD fawns are actually so ridiculously cute, that the Schleich figures are a good rendition
P. D. if you pretend to have the social behaviour of each species in your collection.. you need more fawns fo red and white-tailed deers and less stags!

And yes, white-tailed deers are very rare in zoos. In fact, the only captive white-tailed deer I saw in my entire life, was when I was a small kid in an animal exposition!!! (when these kind of events were still allowed).

The CollectA (and Papo) white-tailed are darker than the Schleich and the fur colour can vary a lot from one region to another so I may buy the CollectA stag one day and even give him the Papo doe as a mate and just pretend they are deers from elsewhere since this species has a very wide area of distribution.

You're right about the social behaviour thing, I hesitated before buying the second stag and finally got it because it was retired and I was afraid to regret it.

Pardofelis wrote:

.. you need more fawns fo red and white-tailed deers

I mean does, sorry

Nice White-tailed deers you have Ben :)
My choices of these animals are the Collecta stag, which is my favorite and also the Papo dear, and doe, which I also like very much.
Just to know, that the Papo doe is too big for the Collecta stag ... but the Papo stag is also very nice and it works perfectly with his doe :)

But like I said, my favorite is the Collecta one, it is just sooo beautiful and realistic looking :)

V Mammals

M) Even-toed ungulates

3) Deers

d) Reindeers

Species : Mountain reindeer, woodland caribou
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Figures on this picture (from left to right) :
- Schleich 14239 Reindeer (1999-2004)
- CollectA 88709 Woodland Caribou (2015-still in production)

Fun facts :
- Unlike Pardo, I do enjoy collecting subspecies, that's why I did not "replace" my old Schleich reindeer by the wonderful CollectA caribou and they now coexist in my collection.
- However, I may replace it by the new Schleich reindeer from this year. I am still undecided about this. On the one hand, it is too big but on the other hand it's a nice figure and my vintage model is not detailed enough to remain in my main collection. Moreover, it's Schleich so it's easily available to me and that's not like if I had to order it : I just have to go to the shop and buy it... Finally, there is no other Eurasian reindeer model that would fit better in my collection. Mojo's is the same size as Schleich's and Papo's is rather ugly. What should I do in your opinion ?
- I have the reindeer from my childhood and ordered the caribou from my favourite Ebay seller.
- I have seen reindeers in zoos but I have never seen an American subspecies.

Update :
- Schleich 14837 Reindeer (2020-still in production) replaces the old model. For further information, please check the addition topics.
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In my collection I have three reindeer, Papo (It's huuuge), Safari (older one) and the CollectA. I do collect subspecies, but I'll need to look into reindeer a bit more

RtasVadumee wrote:

What should I do in your opinion ?

Trying to be in your shoes, I would add the Schleich reindeer since it's cheaper than the equally attractive Mojo, but then I would have to move the Elk to North America and calling it Moose.

I am already using my elk family as North American moose.

RtasVadumee wrote:

What should I do in your opinion ?

Add as many reindeer as you can, except those that clearly don't fit in size, for forming a big herd, without replacing none

RtasVadumee wrote:

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that black rhino in the middle of the trio looks great!!. i'm not aware of a better one, and it scales more or less realistically with the collecta white one. it's also very nicely painted.

darn you schleich!!. whenever you make something i like you retire it in a short time!!

I'd keep the old Schleich reindeer. It is still a pleasant looking figure with the Schleich traditional charm. Not comparable with the CollectA caribou but the latter is probably the best cervidae figure of modern times. I find the Mojö reindeer nicer than Schleich's and with a much nicer pose, though, I understand that being the Schleich easier to find, it helps. Schleich's looks like Papos but slightly embellished. Conclusion, for more than you try to choose, you will someday visit a local shop without any specific idea in mind and for no special reason, you will get the Schleich reindeer. I know how it is, it also happened several times with me.

V Mammals

M) Even-toed ungulates

3) Deers

e) Moose

Species : Moose
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Figures on this picture (from left to right) :
- Schleich 41457 Forest Animal Babies (2017-2019)
- Schleich 14781 Moose Bull (2017-still in production)
- Schleich 14620 Moose Cow (2010-2013)
- Schleich 14621 Moose Calf (2010-2013)

Fun facts :
- I think this moose bull is one of Schleich's recent masterpieces.
- I never bought the previous bull which I found many times in shops because I only wanted one moose family at that time and preferred the more recent bull. I could have got both and pretend one was a moose from North America and the other an elk from Eurasia but I didn't. As a result, I use the whole family as moose from North America, including the cow and grey calf which are part of the European wildlife series.
- I got the cow in a quite exhausting way... I saw it on the website of a toy shop in a small town in Brittany. So, I went there by train and walked to the shop which was not very far from the railway station. Unfortunately, there were two shops from the same chain in that town and I had gone to the wrong one. So I had to cross the whole town and walk for a long time in the countryside to reach the other store located in a shopping area outside of the town. I had planned to visit other shops in this town. But because of my previous misfortune, I had almost no time left and had to hurry up and even run to visit all of them and don't miss my train to go back home.
- The greyish calf was a gift from my mother. I did not plan to buy it as I preferred the newer one. My mom was very disappointed that I chose the new one because she found the older one much cuter. I told her I did not want it but she just could not resolve to accept it so she bought it anyway and gave it to me as a gift. She said it looked like the ugly duckling, alone in the shop where it had remained for years without finding an owner. Since moose cows can have two calves, I accepted it in my main collection. After all, it is a gift from my mother so I could not refuse it !
- The moose bull and both calves come from my favourite Schleich shop. I found the cow during one of my figure hunts.
- I have seen moose, or at least Eurasian elks in two zoos. They are rare in French parks.

YAY, an update from your marvellous collection! My moose herd has the Schleich 2004 bull, Schleich cow and calf from 2010, the Papo and the CollectA. I don't know why but I have my moose just down as the American moose as until 2017 I thought moose were only native to North America

Beautyful moose !

And there aren't many female moose to get.
I love the story where you ran from one end of the city to the other ( or even outside the city) to get her !
That is collecting when it is best : A real tough sport !!!  

I've never been in Brittany, but to be honest, a walk through the countryside of a small town in your mid-20's sounds like fun to me. Far from calling it exhaustive or tough.

Those elks are beautiful!!

I like how the calf is sucking milk from his mother
Mooses are indeed rare in zoos. They're very sensitive to heath and many temperate and mediterranean climate zoos avoid keeping them.

spacelab wrote:

I've never been in Brittany, but to be honest, a walk through the countryside of a small town in your mid-20's sounds like fun to me. Far from calling it exhaustive or tough.

Those elks are beautiful!!

I was trying to joke

Pardofelis wrote:

I like how the calf is sucking milk from his mother
Mooses are indeed rare in zoos. They're very sensitive to heath and many temperate and mediterranean climate zoos avoid keeping them.

Interesting !
Close to where i live, there is a wonderful, little safari park with only Scandinavian animals. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
They have moose, but the first many years they were in a small wood behind an area with sika deer, so we almost never saw them.
Now I know why

spacelab wrote:

I've never been in Brittany, but to be honest, a walk through the countryside of a small town in your mid-20's sounds like fun to me. Far from calling it exhaustive or tough.
Those elks are beautiful!!

My figure hunts were actually a lot of fun and I only keep good memories of them !

Pardofelis wrote:

Mooses are indeed rare in zoos. They're very sensitive to heath and many temperate and mediterranean climate zoos avoid keeping them.

I am glad to know why I didn't see more of them in zoos. That's an impressive species and I couldn't understand why most zoos would not choose to show them. Actually, I only saw moose in zoos specialized in European wildlife.

SUSANNE wrote:

Interesting !
Close to where i live, there is a wonderful, little safari park with only Scandinavian animals. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
They have moose, but the first many years they were in a small wood behind an area with sika deer, so we almost never saw them.
Now I know why

Very nice ! In my opinion, those zoos dedicated to a special geographic area are the most interesting ones and I wish there were more specialized zoos like that. Unfortunately, they often have a hard time trying to survive because they are much less appealing to the general public than non specialized mainstream large zoos with elephants, lions and giraffes...

These are all great figures! I think Schleich does a good work with moose.
I have no idea which one is the newer calf but my instinct tells me Mothers are always right even if we love to show them they're not. I know your cow is the mother of the calf you received as a gift. Though, who is the mother of the newer calf, is it your bull?

Moose cows can have two calves if food is plentiful so she is the mother of both of them.

The newer calf is the brown one on the left.

V Mammals

M) Even-toed ungulates

3) Deers

f) Other deers

Species : Fallow deer, Père David's deer
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Figures on this picture (from left to right) :
- CollectA 88685 Fallow Deer (2014-still in production)
- CollectA 88829 Père David's Deer (2018-still in production)

Fun facts :
- The Père David's deer has always been a very appealing species to me and that's the first deer from CollectA I got. That's one of the few extinct in the wild species I have in my collection, along with the scimitar oryx.
- I ordered both from my favourite Ebay seller.
- I have seen fallow deers in many zoos and parks but I have only seen Père David's deers in one zoo specialized in Asian fauna.

I think the word masterpiece was much more adjusted here than in some previous mentions. In my opinion, of course.Surely the howling deer and last moose are great figures but especially this fallow deer is surely a step forward. The only other deer figure at its level is the CollectA caribou. Père's David is also an excellent figure and by far the most interesting species in this group ever released. I understand why the word masterpiece is not often used with CollectA, it sounds redundant, while some brands have a few masterpieces, CollectA have a few that are not. 
Thanks for info about the moose calf, better a retired cow than a bull as a mother.