Woolly rhinoceros (AAA)

Review and photos by ‘Gwangi’

Everyone familiar with Pleistocene fauna is familiar with the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), a large shaggy rhino that lived in Eurasia and died out at the end of the Ice Age. It is often reproduced in toy form, only less so that the more popular mammoths and smilodons. This review concerns AAA’s reproduction of the famous shaggy beast. Bear with me as this is my first review and being a dinosaur lover I’ve foolishly chosen a mammal to do it on.

For the most part the figure looks pretty good. It is made of a solid somewhat flexible chunk of rubber and measures 5” long and stands 2.5” at the shoulder. The real life animal measured 11’ long and stood 6’ at the shoulder so the figure seems good where proportions are concerned. If my math is correct this would put it at 1/28 in scale. This figure should not be mistaken with the larger though similar AAA rhino that measures 11” long and 4” high.

The figure looks stocky and shaggy as it should and stands on short think three toed feet also as it should. The figure has red eyes and the nice addition of some wrinkles around the upper lip. The pose of the figure is fairly static with the right front limb slightly lifted as if the animal is moving forward. There are some features of the figure that leaves one a bit puzzled. For starters is the tail, or rather the lack thereof. I don’t know if the figure was meant to have one and it is pressed against the body and thus hard to discern or if they just missed it altogether. Whatever the case may be it should have a tail. Another mistake is the anterior horn of the figure which should be flattened side-to-side rather than rounded as in extant rhinoceroses.

The paint job is also a bit concerning, rather than a more natural brownish color the makers picked green as their color of choice. Why they did this is beyond me but it reminds me of the algae that often grow on tree sloths. There is some brown speckled around the animal’s coat as well but this could almost be mistaken for paint rub-off. The mouth and nostrils are painted white which is also an odd choice. As for the paint application there does appear to be some run off. Most obvious is around the horns as some of the green on the face runs up a bit at the base of the horns which are grey. The same goes for the toenails which are brown.

Overall despite my complaints the figure is fairly decent. Where prehistoric mammal figures are concerned there doesn’t seem to be much out there so this one should be of interest especially where price is concerned as I only paid a couple bucks for mine.

Often available from eBay stores here

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