The Curious Compendium 2023 Tour Finale: Griffons!

Wolverines!

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These guys' last molar in their upper jaw sits at a 90 degree perpendicular angle from the line of teeth; this gives them the ability to tear even frozen carcasses apart for a meal or split bone. They also have a superb sense of smell where they can detect carcasses buried in 20 feet of snow. They have even been known to dig out and make a meal of hibernating animals.

Wolverines are such beautiful animals. I’ve always wanted to see one in person. I glad we have some great representatives in toy version! I have the Schleich, Safari, and Mojo. All great figures in their own way

I love wolverines too. I also couldn't resist to all of these from major brands. Mojo and Safari made excellent representatives, I find the Schleich model also very good and the Bullyland has a lot of action.I can't choose one among these four so I retain all of them. I have the little PV too. I've always thought a wolverine as a perfect figure for Papo style. Maybe the Bullyland design is the closest I could expect from the French brand but in a more realistic way. Wolverine and Tasmanian devil are two species I don't understand why Papo has never released.

Thank you everyone! 

Prairie dogs, Virginia opossum, and a Norwegian lemming. 
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I have chosen to talk about the only marsupial found in North America. :) The opossum, belonging to this unique evolutionary family, has LOTS of weird traits. Their prehensile tail is used for all sorts of activities including wrapping around material to bring back to make a nest with; the male has a bifurcated penis and females have a matched set of reproductive organs (babies are born very small, and like all other marsupials have to crawl their way into the
pouch to finish developing). I could go on and on because these guys are so odd but I digress...

Nice models ! I'm a big fan of the Safari Ltd opossum family

Never heard of a Netherland lemming

Love the Safari opossum! Is that lemming from Toy Many? It’s very nice!

Thank you both, especially Kiki for correcting me. A *Norwegian* lemming!

The oppossum is now very rare. And the lemming one of my personally highlights this year.

Next time you have to ask the Prairie dog if he wants to be presented with the marmotes.
I have the Safari oppossum too and I love that model. I'm so proud that I haven't avoided it because it was larger than I expected. If it had happened, I would regret today.

Thank you everyone! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], I will discuss it with the prairie dogs.

Badgers!

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American badgers live relarively short lives of about 5 years, but one wild badger made it 14! These guys, unsurprisingly given their body plan, dig for most of their food. Look up what their humerus looks like! Absolutely designed for massive digging ability. I have had the pleasure if running into a wild badger as well as handling skeletal remains in school. They are amazing animals!

I love badgers too. OK, I won't tell you to discuss with honey badgers because these guys don't give a chance.
I love almost every badger figure and again it was Safari who offered something really different. It was once more I was hesitant when I acquired and now I love it. Hurray for Schleich for releasing the best European badger in my opinion, the wonderful 2011 figure.

Wonderful badgers! The safari and Schleich adult and babies are my favorite. I’m happy safari made the North American species

What brand is the light brown version in the background of the right side?

Great collection of Badgers.Need more American badgers and also maybe a hog or a ferret badger!

Thank you everyone!

Eurasian beaver!

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As you may imagine, grooming is highly important to these animals in order to stay waterproof; they must oil their fur several times a day to achieve this.  They also have a set of transparent eyelids they can use to help them see underwater!

It is always hard to tell European from North American beavers. So we have to buy them all to be sure we get both species.

Thank you both. Honestly, all the models look the same to me (not so the real animals themselves), but to organize them as separate helps me find them on TAW if needed. :)

Sorry about the delay for Friday uploads, work has been crazy and our Friday holiday hours interfere with my usual upload time. 

Common Hedgehogs!

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These guys have between 5,000 and 7,000 spikes on their body! Each spike lasts about a year before falling out and being replaced just like any other type of hair. Their little legs also can walk far! Up to 2 miles in search of food!

Well, if you're busy counting hedgehog quills, it's no wonder you're occupied!

Nice hedgehogs too

Thank you both. :)

North American Beaver!
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These guys are responsible for the largest non man-made structure- it can be seen from satellite images! There is a dam nearly 800 meters long located in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada.

What an oportune presentation, we've been discussing how to identify beaver species. Those from North American themed series are easy. Oh, I didn't know they could build such large structures!

Thanks Roger, my presentation of this started a discussion over on ATF and thus... here we are reclassifying the beavers on TAW!