The Curious Compendium 2023 Tour Finale: Griffons!

so many skunks!

Interesting skunk species. A curious hybrid and an extinct one.

Thank you everyone! And @Kiki, I forgot to say that I am happy to do a comparison of the brown bears you requested at the weekend. :)

Next are Alpine Ibex!

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This animal is the inspiration behind the Capricorn zodiac sign and has long held in the esteem of being a mystical and important animal. The real thing however, I found in my reading, actually has an "undersized" heart for a mammal; this is believed to aid in restricting heat loss but means they also adopt ectothermic behaviors like sun basking.

Nice again

Beautiful group! It's nice that you have two females too. Or are they young ibex? What brand is the small adult in the centre?

Thanks you three! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], They were custom repaints done by myself to represent females. Not the best examples for a female ibex but I was experimenting with the models I had on hand. :) They will likely be replaced if I come across better sculpts for them.

last of the Black bear family!
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My favorite fact is that these guys do not only come in black. They can have white patches on their chest like their Asian cousins, they can be brown (chocolate), cinnamon (reddish brown), blonde (yellowish pale), Kermode/Spirit (white pale), and glacier (gray or blue). And of course, any shade in between these, mixture between body, face, and legs, and the white patches can be present on any/all these base coats.

You won't believe it—now black bears come in all colors too? This younger generation never stops coming up with new stuff.

Thank you everyone! 

Mountain goats! So excited for Papo's release.

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They are not actually goats, they are closely related to antelope and belong to the bovidae family. Their tongues are black! They are also pretty small; only 3.5 feet at the shoulder and 5.5 feet long and approx weigh 180-280 lbs (rough size of females to males).

It is important that you remind us that mountain goats are not that big. We European tend to think that in North America everything is huge.
A muskox is surely much smaller than a yak and a Mountain goat also noticiably smaller than a takin.
I think we are living the golden era of Papo, in the past the brand switched from excellent to very poor models. Coicidentally, they're introducing next year a musk ox and a mountain goat, exactly as Schleich did during their golden era. I'm happy with my two Schleich mountain goats, let's see if I can resist to the new Papo.

Thank you both.

North American river otters!
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These guys can dive up to 60 feet! Though rarely given the opportunity in some river systems. They are very clean and wash/groom themselves after every meal. They usually live in family groups that are similar to wolf packs (an adult mating pair with their offspring who may stay with the group or eventually disperse to start their own families).

Lovely mountain goats & otters! I also can't wait to add the Papo one to my collection. I have both of CollectA's & Schleich's.

I love Safari's IC otters!

I love the three otters brothers.

Ok, I waited to do my moose since I got the new set recently... here they are! 

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Moose have been recorded as diving as far as 20 feet into deep water looking for food; moose remains have also been recorded in the stomachs of orcas! Moose themselves require something near 10,000 calories a day which is difficult to get from plant material... a moose will munch on twigs all day long!

The Fame Master moose looks very good. Hard to see that it is a puzzle figure.

Beautiful moose! I was just wondering how big the Papo one was! Now I'm tempted to get it and the new female... I have no room on my shelves

Thank you Roger and Jolie!

The Papo moose is the biggest model I have I think, and I hope the female is too. But the bull isn't outrageously gigantic so...

I still use the CollectA moose in my collection but there is something weird and special about the Papo model. Schleich moose are good, I have one somewhwere but they lack identity, I can't even remember which version is mine. Though, I love the Schleich cow.