Mathison Museum of Natural History

wonderful model and picture!

I love that fish

Love that coral snake!

Did you build all your own sets for these? The aquatic ones are always especially lovely.

Jill wrote:

Love that coral snake!

Did you build all your own sets for these? The aquatic ones are always especially lovely.

Jill

No, the three-dimensional dioramas were purchased on Yahoo Japanese auctions; the large flat ones are Bakku Backgrounds and the small flat ones are PLM Dioramansion 150.

Species: †Confuciusornis sanctus Hou et al., 1995

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: PNSO
Series: Age of Dinosaurs
Year of Release: 2016
Size/Scale: Body length (including tail feathers) 8.3 cm for a scale of 1:6
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: An exciting species to have been made into a toy, it does fall short in terms of accuracy, especially with regards to the wing structure and position. Also, there is apparently no evidence that C. sanctus had a crest, given the large number of fossils known (sexual dimorphism has been observed, but neither sex appeared to have had a crest). Still, it is a fine figure and comes recommended.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of modern-day China
Habitat: Riparian, arboreal
Diet: Presumably small fish
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: To date, C. sanctus is the oldest known bird with a toothless beak (by bird, I am referring to anything within the clade Euavialae). There have been several theories about the animal's diet, including seeds and insects. In 2006, a fossil of C. sanctus was discovered with the remains of a small fish within its alimentary system, suggesting a piscivorous diet.

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Wonderful model and display!

bmathison1972 wrote:

Jill wrote:

Love that coral snake!

Did you build all your own sets for these? The aquatic ones are always especially lovely.

Jill

No, the three-dimensional dioramas were purchased on Yahoo Japanese auctions; the large flat ones are Bakku Backgrounds and the small flat ones are PLM Dioramansion 150.

They're really nice, you use them well!

Species: Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout, 1769) (brown rat; Norwegian rat)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Schleich
Series: Farm Life
Year of Release: 2003
Size/Scale: Figure length 6.8 cm. Body length (excluding tail) 4.5 cm for a scale of 1:3.3-1:6.2
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: Surprisingly, the brown rat is not commonly made in toy form, given its familiarity and notoriety.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Native to northern China, now cosmopolitan due to human introductions
Habitat: Forests, fields, wetlands, disturbed areas, parks, gardens, garbage dumps, sewers, human habitations
Diet: Non-discriminant omnivore
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Rattus norvegicus is a vector and reservoir for many zoonotic disease-causing agents of humans, including Yersinia pestis (plague), Angiostrongylus cantonensis (angiostrongyliasis), Spirillum minus (rat-bite fever), Coxiella burnetii (Q fever), Trichinella spp. (trichinellosis), and Toxoplasma gondii (toxoplasmosis), among many others.

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Cool pic

This beautiful model deserved so beautiful home!

Great last few models but this rat is my favorite picture.

Species: †Lisowicia bojani Sulej et Niedźwiedzki, 2019

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: CollectA
Series: Prehistoric Life
Year of Release: 2020
Size/Scale: Figure length 19.0 cm. Hip height 10.0 cm for a scale of approximately 1:20
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Leave it to CollectA to produce a cool prehistoric animal less than a year after it was formally described! The bottom jaw is articulated.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Late Triassic (Norian to Rhaetian) of modern-day Poland
Habitat: Tropical, freshwater wetlands
Diet: Plants
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Lisowicia bojani is the largest known non-mammalian synapsid. Why it became so large is unknown, but it could have been to compete for food with rhynchosaurs or as defense against larger predators, much like the sauropodomorphs at the time. Lisowicia bojani may have served the same ecological role of sauropodomorphs, the fossils of which are surprisingly lacking where L. bojani was found.

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Wonderful model and display!

Species: Istiophorus platypterus (Shaw, 1792) (Indo-Pacific sailfish)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Papo
Series: Marine Life
Year of Release: 2020
Size/Scale: Body length 13.0 cm, for a scale of 1:11.5-1:27
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This 2020 model is probably the only standard-sized figure readily available. Favorite Co. made a nice one also in 2020, but it is smaller, as is the 2019 Pelagic Fish TOOB figure by Safari Ltd.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Indo-Pacific, Mediterranean Sea
Habitat: Pelagic, at depths of 0-350 meters, usually 10-30 meters
Diet: Fish, cephalopods
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Istiophorus platypterus uses visual forms of communication during the breeding season, including flashing body colors via chromatophores and movements of the dorsal fin. It is also an extremely fast fish, with an average cruising speed of 11 km/hr with bursts of speed up to 110 km/hr.

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