I suspect many naturalists, as part of their childlike delight in the diversity of creatures (a GOOD thing) secretly or not- so- secretly collect animal toys. He has inspired us to put up a selection of our odd bunch.
From the left rear: warthog, Snowy owl, Patagonia's Penguino (Libby will soon blog the sad tale of its planned extermination-- is it the last of its kind?); Stieff dachshund, parrot -- species non- specific I think. The little bird in the middle with the long beak has been known as the woodcock, but I notice it has nostrils in the end of that beak--?? Then, in front, stag beetle, dragonfly, mopane worm (edible caterpillar I have eaten in Zimbabwe) and a mandrill with movable arms riding a manatee.
And Annie, I don't let the dogs go berserk on them...
Check out this site for some interesting toy animals. Thanks to Darren!
5 comments:
Not only do I 'let' him, I encourage it. It gives him such pleasure! He could have shown that Barney the teddybear museum guard dog some of the finer techniques.
First you rip off the nose. Then one foot and pull out some stuffing, and toss it over your shoulder. With great abandon and glee. Now for that irritating squeaker in the tender but well-sewn and tough belly. Stuffing flies. Nip off and usually swallow the tip of said squeaker. Done! Next!
(But Maddy's stuffed toys usually come from yardsales for a quarter each)
The only long-billed birds with nostrils at the bill tip are kiwis. But they have tiny little monodactyl wings, not the big flappy things that your toy has. It's some sort of unholy apterygid-scolopacid hybrid, clearly.
I have a plush toy albatross called Murgatroyd and a plush toy Aardvark called Empson. There — my guilty secret is out.
Did the bat and octopus do something wrong to be excluded? I may put up my own pic in a while: we keep a spiny lobster, a hippo, a tragopan, a Zuni turtle and the latest addition, an armadillo, who looks perpetually ill-at-ease.
Purely an oversight-- the nectar bat was hanging in the library, and Cthulhu the octopus in his niche, away from the others. I may add them, though Cthulhu appeared in my ".600 Nitro" post.
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