Chalicotheres were an unusual family of ungulates related to the similarly extinct brontotheres as well as extant horses, rhinos, and tapirs. At over 8 feet tall, Moropus was one of the largest chalicotheres. Unlike its smaller relatives, it appears to have walked on its palms as opposed to its knuckles.
The 2015 CollectA Moropus stands just under 13 cm tall and measures about 14 cm long. It has been sculpted in what looks to be a casual walking pose with its head turned to the left and its right paw raised. Its main colour is tawny brown, just like an African lion. Darker brown is used for the nostrils, the fur on the cheeks, the mane, and the tuft on the tail. The underbelly is white, the claws are very dark grey, the eyes are black, the inside of the mouth is dark pink, and the teeth are white.
Looking at the head of the Moropus, one can easily see the familial resemblance to horses, although it really looks more like a fusion of a horse and a camel. One can almost hear it snorting derisively as it forages for food. The open mouth reveals small rows of teeth extending far back. The mane running down the neck is short like a Przewalski’s horse and the fur covering the body is beautifully sculpted.
The Moropus‘ limbs are long and graceful, but also quite muscular. The huge claws on its front paws would have been ideal for stripping leaves and bark off trees, digging for roots and tubers, and for defence against predators. Oh, and peering at the underside of this beast, we can clearly see that it is a male. All of CollectA’s recent prehistoric mammals have been male. Personally, I think it would be nice to see at least one female in the future. Perhaps a mighty cave bear with her cub.
The CollectA Moropus is easily the best of the admittedly few chalicothere toys. It’s big and impressive-looking, finely sculpted, has a realistic colour scheme, and, as far as I can tell at least, no anatomical inaccuracies. In a plastic world largely dominated by mammoths and cats, this is a welcome and wonderful touch of variety.
Thanks go out once again to FaunaFigures.com for this and many other great toys!
Disclaimer: links to Ebay and Amazon on the DinoToyBlog are affiliate links, so we make a small commission if you use them. Thanks for supporting us!
Dilopho eltévedt………..
Szerintem Dilopho,te nem is értesz ehhez.
Ennek a Moropusnak az égvilágon semmi baja nincs.(ha egyszer azt sem tudod mi ez)
Ez egy csodás figura.A Chalithotheres csoport egyetlen számottevő méretű modellje.
És igen reméljük,hogy lesz nőstény is.
Eocarcharia Dinops:
Sok évvel ezelőtt írtam ezt a megjegyzést!
Ma már nem látok semmi kivetnivalót a figurán. Számomra teljesen jónak tűnik, és azóta sokat tanultam az őskori emlősökről.
Cool, a moropus toy! Prehistoric mammals in general don’t get a whole lot of toys, and most of the ones we do get are smilodon and mammoths. Chalicotheres are pretty underrated and it’s cool to see such a well made, accurate toy.
Oh, wow! I’ve actually never heard of this animal before. I guess that shows you how much they’re represented in popular culture, huh? Well, actually, it’s probably because I’m scared of most large mammals. You’ll never get me near a cow. But this actually looks like something I’d want to go and see! (But preferably from a distance.) It’s very impressive looking. Collecta has pumped out stunning figures one after another, and if I had enough money I’d get this and the new Spinosaurus figures. Also, fantastic review. It was a bit short, but really, what else could you say about this figure? It doesn’t seem to have any bad points about it, but it doesn’t seem too…well, individual. It looks just like a generic Moropus, fit for pack-building. (What is a group of Moropus even called? A herd?)
If I had more money, like I said before, this figure would already be in my room. It’s great!
My toy reviews are direct and to the point. Always have been (I also reviewed Transformers for years). I believe that’s why they have been so well-received by people.
And yes, since Moropus is related to horses, the proper term for them would be a herd. Or if you had a group of them for doing heavy labour, they’d be called a team.
CollectA did a great job with this one. : ) I would love to see an Eohippus by them!
It’s funny how extant horses are so well-represented in toy lines, but not extinct ones. A Mesohippus would be really nice.
From my honest view of the moropus Collecta is by far the best on the market and even more have to say Collecta prehistoric mammals are from my point of view the best currently existing in the toy market far exceeds enterprises Mojo and GeoWorld.
However although it is a fabulous figure, I would have liked in this case that would have had a less conservative colors and especially based on the chalicotheres witht Walking Beast of the BBC. Anyway, it is phenomenal. Furthermore we must point out that the tail of the animal is very stiff, so there be careful in preventing further sharp falls in reasonably short heights, to avoid breakage.
The same can be said of the legs, ears and tail of Daeodon which are also very rigid. Ultimately these two figures are more apt to collectors for children being toy figures.
I think a different color mane would or some black white flashes around the face would have looked nice but, I really can’t blame CollectA on the color scheme as many large mammals, especially ungulates are mostly dull brown or tan colors. Sure some antelopes and big cats have colorful or different patterns that serves as camouflage, but generally mammals are boring, but earth tones tend to help in survival.
I have not found the tail to be sharp or stiff on mine. I doubt it would break from a fall.
Maybe not with a fall but if you accidentally touch the tail of this figure (by the way excellent), I say this because it happened to me with the tyrannosaurus with prey (Struthiomimus) in the same factory.
That certainly does not happen for example with megacerops or arsinoitherium of Collecta, so I commented. Anyway repeat is a great figure.