Mathison Museum of Natural History

Species: Naja naja (Linnaeus, 1758) (Indian cobra)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Venomous Creatures TOOB
Year of Production: 2010
Size/Scale: Figure length 11.5 cm. Body length 18 cm for a scale of 1:10-1:12
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: Sometime in recent years, figures in this TOOB were repainted; today's N. naja figure represents the repaint rather than the original.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Central Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, eastern Afghanistan, Bangladesh)
Habitat: Forests, plains, wetlands, agricultural land, disturbed areas, neighborhoods and villages
Diet: Rodents, frogs, other reptiles
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: The venom of N. naja is primarily a post-synaptic neurotoxin and cardiotoxin. The venom acts on the synaptic gaps of the nerves resulting in muscle paralysis. Severe bites can lead to respiratory failure or cardiac arrest. Toxin from young snakes has been used as a recreational drug in parts of India, with mild envenomation resulting in euphoria, sedation, and loss of consciousness.

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Beautiful model and display!

Species: Heliocidaris crassispina (Agassiz, 1863) (purple sea urchin; short-spined sea urchin)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Ikimon
Series: Nature Techni Colour - Sand Dollars and Sea Urchins
Year of Production: 2017
Size/Scale: 5.0 cm in diameter, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure was marketed as Anthocidaris crassipina, which is now regarded as a synonym of H. crassipina. Figures in this collection represent the dried test of sand dollars and sea urchins, rather than the intact living animal. They were also sold as keychains or (as in today's figure) magnets.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Northwest Pacific
Habitat: Benthic, in rocky areas at depths of 0-70 meters (usually 0-15 meters)
Diet: Marine algae
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Heliocidaris crassispina is commonly harvested for the seafood industry. It is considered one of the top 20 sea urchin species in demand worldwide and is the only species commercially harvested in Hong Kong.

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very realistic!

Caracal wrote:

very realistic!

I suspect it was molded after an actual specimen, but don't know for sure.

It looks like an actual one 

Like real

Species: Ara macao (Linnaeus, 1758) (scarlet macaw)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: National Entertainment Collectibles Association
Series: Ace Ventura 8" Pet Detective
Year of Production: 2019
Size/Scale: Body length 10.0 cm for a scale of 1:8-1:9
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure was sold as an accessory to an Ace Ventura action figure. Interestingly, the 'character' in the movie the bird is based on is a green-winged macaw (A. chloropterus); however this figure is clearly painted after A. macao. The set also included a Panamanian white-faced capuchin monkey and domestic dove (I also retained the capuchin and will review it some day). The figure is designed to sit on the wrist of the Ace figure and the base shown in this image is my own; I made it out of Sculpey clay and painted with acrylics.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Central and South America, from southern Mexico to northeastern Argentina
Habitat: Lowland rainforest, usually in the canopy
Diet: Primarily fruit and nuts, occasionally flowers and nectar. During the breeding season they may supplement their diet with arthropods and snails for additional protein. Birds will also ingest clay from the banks of rivers; this helps aid in the digestion of tannins and other toxic chemicals that may be present in underripe fruit
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Pairs of A. macao are monogamous and mate for life. Nests occur in tree cavities. The female lays 2-4 eggs. Typically, the female incubates the eggs while the male brings her food. The incubation period lasts for almost a month and chicks fledge in about three months. However, chicks will remain with their parents for about another year. The parents will not reproduce until their current chicks are independent.

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Lovely macaw!!Didn't realise that there were figures from this movie franchise.

A good example for Action figure animals. My Dusky lori is the on and only figure made by Dragon.

very beautiful model and picture!

Species: Pavona venosa (Ehrenberg, 1834) (pavona coral)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Yujin
Series: Corals in Colour
Year of Production: 2005
Size/Scale: Height 2.5 cm. Scale difficult to calculate based on the way colonies grow, but this figure could fit into the 1:12-1:32 range (the lower range is probably more realistic however).
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: The Yujin corals are small and made out of a limestone-calcium carbonate sandstone, rather than the usual PVC. They make great accessories for other marine wildlife.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Indo-Pacific
Habitat: Coral reefs, a depths of 3-25 meters
Diet: Floating microorganisms that come within reach of their tentacles; also, nutrients derived from photosynthetic dinoflagellates living within the coral's tissues.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Vulnerable
Miscellaneous Notes: A colonial species, P. venosa can form large encrusting colonies in shallow reefs.

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Beautiful picture!

Species: Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus (Daudin, 1803) (northern pine snake)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Wing Mau
Series: Snakes
Year of Production: unknown
Size/Scale: Figure length 12.0 cm. Body length 25.0 cm for a scale of 1:5-1:10
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare (unique as a sculpt)
Miscellaneous Notes: This same sculpt was also used by Club Earth for their Snakes to Go collection. There is also at least one alternate paint job for this sculpt, with a darker orange base below the brown maculae.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southeastern United States
Habitat: Pine flatwoods, mixed woodlands, prairies, agricultural fields, disturbed areas
Diet: Small mammals, eggs
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus is oviparous and females lay clutches of up to 24 eggs in late summer. They are known to build communal nests, with several females laying eggs in one spot. Eggs hatch after about 64-79 days; hatchlings are some of the largest among North American snakes, hatching out at 30-45 cm!

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Beautiful species, model and display!

Are they a kind of Coluber?

Caracal wrote:

Beautiful species, model and display!

Are they a kind of Coluber?

They are in the family Colubridae, but they are not in the genus Coluber.

Of course since they are Pituophis, but I don't know the english word for french "couleuvre"!
Thank you Blaine! :)

Caracal wrote:

Of course since they are Pituophis, but I don't know the english word for french "couleuvre"!
Thank you Blaine! :)

Curiously, in the past the species was placed on genus Coluber but it was a salade then.
There's no corresponding in English for couleuvre as far as I know. Maybe snake is the closest once it seems French use couleuvre for many species. Actually, Portuguese enriched the vocabulary of many countries with the word cobra that French and English use to the hooded cobras. In Portugal we use it for all serpents, the same meaning of the Latin word Colubra (female) or Coluber (male). Thus, couleuvre (French) and cobra (Portuguese) both derive directly from the same Latin word but they assumed a slightly different meaning. Do you know, we've spent a long time in India, seeing these Indian cobras and calling them with the Portuguese word, so, everyone adopted that name for serpents with a hood.

very interesting, the same story as for the zebra! Thank you Rogério! :)

Species: Dynastes hercules (Linnaeus, 1758) (Hercules beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.
Series: B.I.G. Beetles
Year of Production: 2005
Size/Scale: Body length (including horns) 12.5 cm, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very common
Miscellaneous Notes: This is fourth time we've seen D. hercules in the Museum, not a surprise considering it's probably the second most represented species in my collection. Like other large Takara beetles, assembly is required and the final product is articulated. This species was released many times in the B.I.G. Beetles and B.I.G. Insects collections over the years, but there are numerous sculpts and they are not all merely repaints of one another. Today's figure however is a rehash of a 2003 sculpt.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Bolivia
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Larvae feed on rotting wood; adults are attracted to fresh and overripe fruit
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Like many other dynastine scarab beetles, D. hercules exhibits extreme sexual dimorphism. Only males (shown here today) have cephalic and pronotal horns. The males use their horns for fighting rival males and securing feeding and breeding sites.

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An old acquaintance! beautiful model and display!

Beautiful beetle!