Mathison Museum of Natural History

Species: Gymnothorax javanicus (Bleeker, 1859)
Common name(s): giant moray

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Yujin
Series: Saltwater Fish Pictorial Book 1
Year of Production: 2004
Size/Scale: Scale difficult to calculate based on the 'hunched' posture near the head, but body length approx. 15.5 cm for a scale of 1:19.3
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Some assembly is required. The moray comes with a bonus; attached to the mouth is a bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus), a species itself that has only one other representative as a toy or figure, and that's one of the original Australian Yowies. The wrasse is not removable from the eel.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Indo-Pacific
Habitat: Coral reefs, at depths of 0-50 meters
Diet: Fish, crustaceans
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Gymnothorax javanicus engages in cooperative hunting with the roving coral grouper, Plectropomus pessuliferus. The eel hunts in the reef, and fish scared up into the water column are eaten by the grouper, while the grouper may scare fish down into the coral to hide where they are eaten by the moray.

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Species: Desmodus rotundus (Geoffroy, 1810)
Common name(s): common vampire bat

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Play Visions
Series: Bats
Year of Production: 1996
Size/Scale: Wingspan approx. 7.7 cm. Body length approx. 3.7 for a scale of 1:2.4.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Vampire bats as a whole are surprisingly rare in toy/figure form, having also been made by at least Action Products, Bullyland, and AAA. I always favored the Action Products figure but it's hard to come by!

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Central and South America, from Mexico to Uruguay, northern Argentina, and central Chile; also Caribbean Islands Margarita and Trinidad
Habitat: Tropical and subtropical woodlands, grassland, savanna
Diet: Mammalian blood
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Vampire bats have both anesthetic and anticoagulant compounds in their saliva, allowing them to feed virtually unnoticed by their prey at night.

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P.S...yes, it's a total coincidence I just reviewed this on the Blog! At least, most of the research into the animal and figure and the photography was already done for me! LOL.

Appropriate that this one came up around Halloween.

Do you always do the research and write about the figure on the morning that you post it? I am very impressed by your diligence.

rogerpgvg wrote:

Appropriate that this one came up around Halloween.

Do you always do the research and write about the figure on the morning that you post it? I am very impressed by your diligence.

I do the research and take the image the day before. I post when I first get up in the morning, then I using the number generator to select the next one. I start writing in the morning but usually have to finish the writing and take the picture in the evening after work. So, everything is ready to go first thing in the morning. The amount of time it takes to put one of these together depends on the availability of information on the animals. Sometimes it's difficult to find biological information or metrics to calculate scale.

One of the reasons I started this thread is it forces me to study the figure in detail and learn more about the animal itself. It's as educating for me as it is my audience.

thanks for the comments and hope you enjoy it!

Definitely, your posts in this topic are something to look forward to every day. Always interesting and with great photos.

A treasure bat

Species: Pandinus imperator (Koch, 1841)
Common name(s): emperor scorpion

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Bandai
Series: Diversity of Life on Earth - Scorpions
Year of Production: 2022
Size/Scale: Body length approx. 10.0 cm for a scale of 1:2 for a very large specimen
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the fifth time we've seen P. imperator in the Museum. The figure has multiple articulations. I do not know if assembly is typically required (mine came assembled), but it's possible it might depending on the packaging. This same sculpt was also used in the set for the Tanzanian red-clawed scorpion (Pandinoides cavimanus) and large-clawed scorpion (Scorpio maurus). The set also came with larger (18.0 cm) versions of P. imperator and P. cavimanus, but I only purchased the three smaller figures.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: West Africa
Habitat: Rainforest, tropical savanna
Diet: Insects and other arthropods; occasionally small vertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: With a maximum length of around 20 cm, P. imperator is one of the largest scorpions in the world, second only to the giant forest scorpion (Gigantometrus swammerdami) which tops out at about 23 cm.

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I missed loads of presentations here.
As an exercice, I tried to ask t some AI tool which species of butterfly would match better the last Toy Major butterfly presented. The given suggestion was the yellow clouded but when the AI tool was confronted with the Southern dogface identification, it assumed the latter as a better match. Those tools are not very efficient yet but they've improved abruptally in a short time. Also, these Toy Major figures are not very realistic.

Species: †Hallucigenia sparsa (Walcott, 1911)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Favorite Co.
Series: Cambrian Creatures Mini Model - Burgess Shale Series
Year of Production: 2016
Size/Scale: Body length approx. 7.5 cm for a scale of 7.5:1-1.5:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the second time we've seen H. sparsa in the Museum. This is probably the first figure to display the current concept of what H. sparsa may have looked like.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Middle Cambrian of present-day Canada
Habitat: Marine, epibenthic
Diet: Presumed filter feeder of detritus, or predator on sponges or other soft-bodied animals, or carrion (see below)
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Hallucigenia sparsa appears to have had a simple mouth with radial teeth and pharyngeal teeth in front of its gut. While long thought to be a filter feeder of detritus, it may have used its radial teeth to feed on living, or dead, animal prey. Hallucigenia is often found in conjunction with the sponge Vauxia and it may have used its teeth in a rasping method to feed on this and other sponges. It may have also used the same method to feed on carrion on the sea floor.

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