Age: Miocene

Review: Deinotherium (Mojö Fun)

4.4 (14 votes)

The name Deinotherium means “terrible beast,” and this powerful pachyderm must have seemed like one to our early hominid ancestors who lived alongside it in Africa during the Pleistocene epoch. Standing around 4 metres tall and weighing anywhere from 10 to 13 tons, it was possibly the third largest proboscidean of all time after the 24-ton Asian straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon namadicus (the largest land mammal of all time!) and the 15-ton mastodon Mammut borsoni.

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Review: Deinotherium (Starlux)

Genus: Deinotherium Brand: Starlux Classification: Elephant, Mammal Age: Miocene, Pleistocene, Pliocene Type: Figurine, Oldies

3.7 (11 votes)

Review and photographs by Indohyus, edited by Suspsy
Once again I find myself returning to the origins of dinosaur figurines, Starlux, to look at another animal reproduced long before other companies got to it. This time, it’s Deinotherium, the terrible beast!

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Review: Diatryma (Schleich)

Genus: Kelenken, Phorusrhacos Brand: Schleich Classification: Bird Age: Miocene Type: Figurine

3.3 (6 votes)

The Vintage Schleich Diatryma is a nice little figure to have! It is brightly coloured (although I know of monochrome ones being out there) and looks as if it is smiling at you. Looking at this figure, one can’t believe it was a more or less aggressive Eocene omnivore, lurking for prey in the Messel woods, not even avoiding small horses.

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Review: Diatryma and Phorusrhacos (Starlux)

Genus: Diatryma, Gastornis, Phorusrhacos Brand: Starlux Classification: Bird Age: Eocene, Miocene, Paleocene Type: Figurine, Oldies

4.3 (9 votes)

Review and photos by Lanthanotus, edited by Suspsy
A few months ago I stumbled upon pictures of several dinosaur figures made by the French company Starlux while I was reading through the “Recent Acquisitions” thread in the DTF. I looked up this company and found that they had made a great array of dinosaurs as well as some very obscure and rarely depicted prehistoric animals.

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Review: Dromornis (Yowies Lost Kingdom)

Genus: Dromornis Brand: Lost Kingdoms, Yowie Classification: Bird Age: Miocene, Oligocene, Pliocene

4.7 (7 votes)

Travelling through the wonderful world of Oz (as the Aussies tend to call their country) one sure plans some things before starting. I deceided to cramp a few toy figures into a box to take on the chance to shoot some of them in their “natural environment” – at least kind of, Australia sure changed a fair bit since most of the represented animals went extinct.

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Review: Elasmotherium (Deluxe by CollectA)

Genus: Elasmotherium Brand: CollectA Classification: Mammal Age: Miocene, Pleistocene, Pliocene Type: Figurine

4.8 (30 votes)

Bront’s breakfast is suddenly and rudely interrupted as a large cave lion leaps from the tall grass onto his back and attempts to sink its teeth and claws into his hide. But his matted fur coat provides more than enough protection and Bront angrily bucks his attacker off.

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Review: Evolution of Humanity (Tama-Kyu)

Genus: Ardipithecus, Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens, Orrorin Brand: Tama-Kyu Classification: Hominid, Mammal Age: Miocene, Pleistocene, Pliocene Type: Figurine, Set

4 (22 votes)

Review and images by bmathison1972; edited by Suspsy

Prehistoric and primitive hominids are not rare in the animal toy market, but evolutionary sets of them are. The first, and probably the most popular, was called Evolution of Man, produced by Bullyland in 1999.

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Review: Giant Wonambi (Lost Kingdoms Series A by Yowie)

Genus: Wonambi Brand: Lost Kingdoms, Yowie Classification: Reptile (other) Age: Miocene, Pleistocene, Pliocene Type: Figurine

3.6 (11 votes)

I love picking up rare species on the toy market, especially where they are part of groups that are rarely made. As mentioned previously, snakes are incredibly rare on the toy shelves, likely because they don’t vary too much so don’t sell well.

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Review: Ginkgo (Deluxe by CollectA)

Genus: Ginkgo Brand: CollectA Classification: Plant Age: Cretaceous, Eocene, Jurassic, Miocene, Oligocene, Paleocene, Pleistocene, Pliocene Type: Figurine

4.9 (9 votes)

What’s a nice prehistoric animal figure without the appropriate background? Right, so let’s have a look at another plant offering by CollectA…
While being a recent species, Ginkgo biloba already existed long before any human had the brilliant idea to develop writing or another kind of reliable method to record dates or stories for generations to come and so setting the foundation for our modern understanding of history and therefore the time before.

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Review: Gomphotherium (CollectA)

Genus: Gomphotherium Brand: CollectA Classification: Elephant, Mammal Age: Miocene, Pliocene Type: Figurine

4.9 (17 votes)

Review and photos by Bokisaurus, edited by Suspsy
The family Proboscidea has a long and very diverse history. The group is perhaps most famous for their trunks and tusks, with some growing to astounding shapes and sizes. Today, only one family from this once mighty group remains: Elephantidae, consisting of only three species.

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Review: Gryposuchus (Jurassic World Epic Evolution, Wild Roar by Mattel)

Genus: Gryposuchus Brand: Jurassic World, Mattel Classification: Crocodile Age: Miocene Type: Action Figure Scale: 1:23

4.5 (35 votes)

Now here’s something unprecedented from Mattel. No, not a prehistoric pseudosuchian most people have never heard of. Mattel likes those, and this is that too. What makes this one unique is that it represents an animal that lived during the Cenozoic. The era immediately following the Mesozoic and the one in which we’re currently living.

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Review: Hipparion (Jurassic Hunters by Geoworld)

Genus: Hipparion Brand: Geoworld, Jurassic Hunters Classification: Mammal Age: Miocene, Pleistocene, Pliocene Type: Figurine

3.6 (7 votes)

Ancient horses really don’t get much love in the toy market. Aside from Starlux and Bullyland, no one has added to the herd of prehistoric equinids. That is until Geoworld brought out their rendition of Hipparion, one of the most successful horses ever, lasting 22 million years and covering almost every continent, before dying off in the Mid-Pleistocene, possibly being out competed by the modern horse.

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