Woolly Mammoth (Hansa)

Review and photographs by Quentin Brendel (aka ‘Pachyrhinosaurus’), edited by Plesiosauria.

As the most commonly-depicted prehistoric mammal out there, Mammuthus primigenius, the woolly mammoth, can be found in many different forms in the toy world. Unlike most reviews on the blog, the incarnation to be reviewed here is a soft toy. Although this review isn’t the first ever soft toy reviewed on the Dinotoyblog, it is the first ever ‘Hansa Toy International’ toy to be reviewed. I am not an avid collector of plushies, however the craftsmanship on Hansa products is outstanding, and well worth the price tag. Other brands have made mammoths as soft toys, however, none of the ones I’ve seen have the quality of this one.

For proportions, the head is very large compared to a real mammoth and the legs are short. These are to be expected, though, as most plush animals have features like these. The feet are missing nails.

This mammoth is made of four kinds of fabric. The main body has long hair and is of a reddish-brown color with darker tips. The face and feet have lighter brown fur, which is much shorter than the hair on the main body. It also has darker airbrushed marks on the face and trunk for shading, in seams or grooves as well as down the trunk as in wrinkles on a modern elephant’s trunk. The third fabric is slightly shorter. It is darker than the face and more of a brown color. This fabric covers the foot pads and trunk tip. The fourth and final kind of fabric is very short and is present on the animal’s tusks and mouth interior. The tusks are white, with ivory airbrushing to add a sense of depth by shading. The mouth is pale brown with some dark shading in it as well. Airbrushing is found on almost all of Hansa’s pieces and really does make the toy look more realistic with the addition of shading or markings if the animal has any.

Including the tail, the Hansa mammoth is around 45 centimeters long and just under 30 centimeters high. It is also about 15 centimeters wide. The eyes are plastic, and are brown with large, black, pupils. As with most other soft toys by Hansa, the legs are bendable with wire to support their position and the weight of the toy. The trunk, however, is not. Even though it is posable, it is suggested that the limbs be posed once and kept that way, as it is very difficult to bend them back into their original positions.

Hansa also offers a number of other mammoths and even a sabre-tooth cat as well as other prehistoric animals, including dinosaurs. The dinosaurs, while also well made, are not as accurate as their prehistoric mammals or modern animals, sometimes disturbingly so. This mammoth is still in production and can be easily found on Amazon (Amazon.co.uk here, Amazon.com here) or eBay here. If you want a plush mammoth, I would recommend this over any other.