The Curious Compendium 2023 Tour Finale: Griffons!

Need more of this of this species in the model world!!!

I was just reading about your conjecture of the sound of parasaurolophus being like the elk buggle. It sound quite convincing to me. Many Nature formulas keep being repeated.
Love your deer and wolves, you have the biggest collection of mule deer I've ever seen.

Fantastic topic Paige, I'm sorry I was unable to post my two cents on each of your pics.

About Elk, I still haven't one in my collection because I never fall in love for one. The last Safari ltd and, even more, the Tree House Kids are the most appealing for me. What's your idea ?

It's even worse for the Red deers, I have no modern red deers because none convinced me, it seems to me some species are difficult to represent convincingly.

Your wolves nation is really awesome

Thank you Taylor, Roger, and Christophe!

@Kiki, we have missed you! I do like both the Safari and TKH models... but the THK probably wins at realism while the Safari is much easier to obtain. And I agree with the red deer too, lots of models but none that truly "hit the nail on the head" per say.

Here is my penultimate wolf photo.
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As for facts... hmm.... since these are some of my largest models: The largest wolf ever recorded was 175 lbs from Alaska in 1939. The largest recordes in Yellowstone was the collared male 495M at 143lbs. He was the alpha of the Mollie's pack whom regularly hunt bison. At the ripe age of 9 (many only live to be 4 or 5) he was still hunting, and died later that year in 2015. There are rumors of larger wolves caught in ages past but no affirmative records remain.

It is not a surprise the howling pose among wolf figures is so comon but it is really impressive how iconic is the pose to the species. I don't know if a dog howling figure was ever made but not all dogs do it and they do not always adopt a specific pose.

Thank you both. :) I think the Papo Pyrenees dog counts as howling, no? Though its not upright like these wolves are.

Next are roe deer!

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Roe does (thats a fun pair of words) often give birth to twins which she will keep hidden separately for a while after birth; returning to feed each regularly. These does are of further intrigue as they are the only ungulates able to delay implementation of a zygote. This is because the species breeds unusually in early summer. If conditions are not favorable, she will suspend the development of the zygotes until conditions improve ( i.e. spring time vs. winter).

Nice again

At last... we reach the end of my favorite group...

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So many more facts that I could share here but alas... I think that my last share will be this. These animals once roamed the entire globe (excepting Antarctica) and were a top predator of any clime they met. They conquered every habitat they chose to live in and contributed to the health and balance of the ecosystems they were a part of. Wolf populations across the globe have been decimated; earliest recorded organized efforts to do so began in roughly 800 AD in Europe and ended as late as in the last 2 decades in some places. In some locales, to this day, they are still killed on site on the rare occassion one is spotted. But recovery efforts have begun. Iconic and large tracts of land and ecosystem such as Yellowstone National Park have successfully reintroduced them. There are hopes to reintroduce them to places in Europe, if they have not done so on their own. Sadly, we have already lost unique types like the Honshū and Hokkaido wolves and countless other types are on the brink; Iberian, Andalucian, Eastern gray, Mexican... Perhaps what we have long persecuted them for, feared them for, we simply can't recognize in ourselves. Here is hoping for a brighter future!

There are still lots to explore with this category... stay tuned!

Superb collection!!!

Yes, I think the Pyrenees works for a howling dog although I've always conceived it was barking in the mountains. Anytime I see roe deer I can't avoid the phenomenon on this hobby where white-tailed deer took the niche of the roe deer as a toy turning the European and genuine Bambi into an obscure species as toy figure.

Thank you everyone! I hope to see more roe deer too someday... alas...

Reindeer and caribou! 

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I just really love these guys! For one, they can see UV light when no other known mammal can! They can travel up to 1,500 miles in their migrations in a year. They also have specialized tendons in their hooves that click when they walk; this is thought to help keep the herd together during blizzards.

oh, interesting. What brand is the figur right side of the Schleich and pic 2 the first left side and in the middle of the second line?

What a herd! many models I don't know..

Thank you both!

@Andreas, let me know if I got this right... those are the Bullyland reindeer, THK caribou, and then either an unbranded reindeer or a version of the Nayab (not sure which figure you mean on this last request...)

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Thank you everyone! I hope to see more roe deer too someday... alas...

Reindeer and caribou! 

Thank you Sergey.

I apologize for the delay. The last few days have been crazy busy at work and then playing catch-up at home is always fun. Anyhow, here is an attempt to get back up to speed!

My wolf presentation is over but there are still some canids left! Coyotes!

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These guys are often hated on in the States and classified as pests/vermin. I have always found them fascinating! Their litter size is determined by the environment (abundance of food, competition, nearby danger sources); the largest litter size recorded is 17 pups! Though litters are usually much smaller. They are very intelligent animals and recently have been known to integrate into human urban areas, they are even spotted as using public transit in some places! Lastly, due to heavy hunting along the Eastern range they have come to interbreed with the Eastern gray wolf; creating the coywolf hybrid which has even penetrated such supposedly restricted habitat as Central Park in New York city, New York. There is really nothing that can stop these guys!

I will post another group tomorrow sometime. I have been working on updating some family portraits and will be posting those appropriately as I get to them. They will be updated on TCC website also of course!

Roger wrote:

Yes, I think the Pyrenees works for a howling dog although I've always conceived it was barking in the mountains. Anytime I see roe deer I can't avoid the phenomenon on this hobby where white-tailed deer took the niche of the roe deer as a toy turning the European and genuine Bambi into an obscure species as toy figure.

The same goes for me, I'm sorry. The great European brands of the 20th century always had a small place for roe deer (Hausser and Starlux even produced couples or families) and now their successors produce more White-tailed deers than roe deer, it's a shame.;; even if I like American deers too of course.

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Reindeer and caribou! 

I just really love these guys! For one, they can see UV light when no other known mammal can! They can travel up to 1,500 miles in their migrations in a year. They also have specialized tendons in their hooves that click when they walk; this is thought to help keep the herd together during blizzards.

Because of lack of place I avoided buying to much reindeers those last year but looking at these photos makes me ache a bit, the latest Safari Ltd, the Papo and the Mojo in particular.

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

My wolf presentation is over but there are still some canids left! Coyotes!

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I was asking for a comparison pic between the two Safari Ltd coyotes, the job is done

Could you please give me the WW's height at the withers and length without the tail?

According to my measurements... the WW is 7.5 cm at the shoulder and just short of 12 cm from nose tip to the base of the tail. Hope this helps!

And my other catch up group. North American squirrels and friends!
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As you can see I customized 2 Grand Canyon squirrels; the Abert (left, South rim) and Kaibab (right, North rim). These squirrels evolved from a common ancestor and the physical environmental reason for it was the separation of the squirrel populations with the development of the Grand Canyon. They look quite similar but are indeed genetically distinct. This is a prime example of allopatric speciation.

Ok, I have taken new portraits amd posted the updates in this post and the original in this topic. The website I hope to update with these soon. :)

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And apparently I never introduced my african lemurs?!? so... they will be added soon. :)

Arctic foxes!

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They have some of the warmest pelts of any mammal; able to endure temperatures of -70 degrees C/-94 degrees F. These coats are 200% more dense in winter than summer! Lastly there are 3 color morphs, white, "blue", and "sandy".