Steppe Mammoth (Eofauna)

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The 2017 Steppe Mammoth “M. trogontherii” by Eofauna is an incredible and accurate toy.  It was sculpted by making 3d scans of real steppe mammoth skeletons.  It is in 1:40 scale and the scale is based on the largest specimen found.

So who and what was the steppe mammoth?   M. trogontherii was a giant proboscidean that was a bigger and less shaggy ancestor of the woolly mammoth.  It was the first mammoth to develop a dense coat due to the cold climatic conditions and lived during the middle Pleistocene which was 600,000-370,000 years ago. They ranged across most of Eurasia, living out on the open plains where there was an abundant of tasty grasses for them to eat.

The big problem with prehistoric mammal (especially mammoths) toys is that many of them sport a plain brown paint job.  I understand that the choice in color is natural and true to life but they tend to be one shade of brown with little to no shading.  This bother me because they tend not to stand out and almost disappear when on display.  I have a whole line of Mammoths on display and they look like a brown blob with tusks sticking out.  Which is a shame, as there have been some really nice sculpts that were let down by a basic “blah” paintjob. For example, the Carnegie Mammoth is well sculpted but all of its fur is painted in one color, dark brown, which makes the figure look boring.  Imagine how great it would have looked if they added some highlights on the fur.

The first thing I noticed with the Eofauna Steppe Mammoth was the paintjob.  Yes it has brown fur but look at how it pops.  Due to it being dry brushed with a lighter paint color, and some dark wash, the fur look like it is moving and rippling in the wind.  It gives the figure some life, some contrast, and looks more dynamic.  It makes me happy to finally have some divergence of color!  Also take a close look at how well those tusks are painted.  Not one solid color but patterned.

I thought this figure looked  good when I saw it in picture form, but it is phenomenal when you hold it in your hand.  It has a very imposing pose, with the right leg raised and stepping forward while it is pushing off on the back leg.  The head is held high was the trunk curling up, trumpeting its arrival.  The mouth is open and painted with a wet glossy finish and if you really take a close look inside, you can see the back molars.  How cool.  The tusks are asymmetrical.  Which makes sense as elephants usually favor one tusk over the other one for every day tasks.  The eyes have a little gloss that gives it a life like gleam.

It checks all the boxes in accuracy.  It has the small ears,  a short tail with a  tuft of fur at the end, and the trunk has one long lobe on top and broader lobe on the bottom.  The fur is shaggy but short, flowing around the body and when it meets along the belly it bunches up.  The shoulders and hips bulge out nicely and there  is a small raised ridge along the back.   Even the pads on the bottom of the feet are sculpted and life like.

Overall:  One of the best mammoths to be produced in toy form.  It is very life like and was sculpted with care.  Due to it being in 1:40 scale it scales very nicely to the Wild Safari Woolly Mammoth.  The figure also comes with a playing card that has information and attribute points.  The only down side is the price as it is a little expensive around the $30.00 – $35.00 USD range.  In my opinion it is worth the few extra dollars as long as your not giving it to a little kid to play with.  It is so beautiful, it doesn’t really belong in a sand box, so let young children play with the some of the other mammoths and keep this one on display.  Highly recommended.