Safari Ltd.Wild TOOB - 12 Mini Figurines: Giraffe, Bear, Tiger, Camel, Lion, Crocodile, Gorilla, Hippo, Rhino, Zebra, Panther, Elephant - Educational Toy Figures For Boys, Girls & Kids Ages 3+

Being the compulsive and indecisive person that I am (bad combination), I decided that I had to buy two different versions of this type of tube of African animals and check them out for myself and provide you photographic evidence of my careful examination on behalf of children and parents worldwide! (I uploaded pictures, but for some reason they have not yet been published by Amazon.)The executive summary is that I give the Safari Wild Toob the edge over the Wild Republic African Tube for the following reasons:* Slightly more realistic and better rendering and painting of animals (with a few minor flaws)* Better silly spelling of the word Toob* Bonus clever spinning globe on top of sturdy packaging: I, (ahem, I mean kids) will love this feature!Both the Wild Republic African Tube and the Safari Wild Toob were as described (though Safari gives a more thorough description on Amazon). The Wild Republic tube packaging was clear flexible plastic with green fabric binding, matching handle and an attached zip top whereas the Safari "toob" was a squared-off acetate tube with an attached hinged snap-on lid topped by an attached rotating earth. The toob has a knotted rope handle that made pulling out and stuffing the creatures back in the toob slightly more difficult. The Safari toob was at least 2" taller, but the Wild Republic tube was wider at the top, making it easier to stuff your menagerie back in quickly after mom has asked you for the third time to do so.The toy sizes were similar to each other, with the Safari Toob animals averaging slightly larger and most averaging around 1.5"H x 2"W with a couple as long 3" with tails included. No attempt was made to keep the animals proportional, so in the land of Wild Republic, apparently gazelles are larger than elephants whereas in Safari land, a camel could stomp an elephant.Packaging on both sets have choking hazard warnings and both indicate that these toys are not for children under 3 years of age. Both sets were of somewhat flexible plastic and emitted no strange odors like the toys we used to get when I was a kid.The Safari Toob contained 12 unique pieces with no duplicates.The Wild Republic Tube contained a total of 15 pieces; however, 3 of those were duplicates (elephant, giraffe and lion.)Favorite Safari animal: the nicely detailed and tusked elephant. Running a close second: the armored tank of the savannah, the rhinoceros.Least favorite Safari animal: the brown bear, which is kind of boring. However, if you want lions and tigers and bears, oh my, Safari provides.Favorite Wild Republic animal: the barrel-shaped gape-mouthed hippopotamus, with the tusked warthog getting second place.Least favorite Wild Republic animal: the giraffe with the oddly cubist rendering of geometric triangles for spots.Winner of the tube/toob throwdown? Safari, but thumbs up to both for small portable fun in a tube (toob) that will let imaginations run wild and keep kids occupied during outings while their parents might enjoy an adult beverage and reminisce about the unregulated toys covered in lead-based paint they used to play with that I'm sure had absolutely no impact on their behavior or development.

I bought these as teaching aids to help my kids learn about different animals around the world. Concepts are so much easier for them to grasp if they can hold and play with the animals they're leaning about, rather than just reading about them in a book. The animals are well crafted, the pieces have been nicely painted and they're fairly detailed which helps them look more realistic - the tiger has fur, the hippo has wrinkles, and the crocodile has armor. They also have their names on the underside in case you need help identifying what they are. Most of the pieces in this set stand up on their own fairly well, although some are a little wobbly. The zebra in this set could be a little better as well. Its stripes are smeared on one side and dusted to look more gray than white.The only thing I find a little cumbersome is the tube itself. While it's great for storing, it's compact size and odd shape makes it difficult to get the animals in and out - the rope handle also seems to get in the way. Other than the somewhat troublesome tube and the paint job on the zebra, the animals in this set are great and I will definitely be buying more of these collections.

Nice set of animals. They are a bit larger in size than others we own, which is better for the kids but harder on storage. The brown bear is an American black bear so not from the jungle. I liked this giraffe better than any other giraffe we have seen of a similar type/size. Was very happy to get a Bactrian camel for Asia's continent box. The painting on the lion was rather brown and flat, so we went with something else. The African elephant was a great size and we loved the carved detail on the hippopotamus. The tiger did not have the white underside like real tigers do and the crocodile was too green to be realistic. The gorilla was nothing special and seemed was smaller. The zebra was carved nicely but the black wash left it looking more grey than white. I was very happy to get the black panther (which is a leopard) for our Asian continent box.

I am a mother of a two year old and nothing makes me happier then to find my son toys that I played with when I was younger. And I thrive on finding good fun toys that don't involve batteries and have plenty of opportunity for him to use his imagination. They are small enough to fit into my toddlers hands and maybe even his mouth, but he doesn't put toys in his mouth often so I trust that they are safe for him without constant supervision... and I really don't see them being swallowed whole buy a small child anyway. They are made of durable plastic and the paint job has yet to be damaged and he plays with them every day. They even have names stamped on their bellies incase, like me, you can't tell the difference between a crocodile and alligator. I highly recommend these toys for any parent looking for something fun, durable and even educational... my son is finely trying to learn the names of animals because of these toys.

My 2 year old son absolutely loves the animals in the Wild Toob. I was skeptical at first, thinking there’s no way he’d pay attention to these for very long. He is 2 after all. I was wrong. He spent loads of time asking what animals were named, lining them up according to color and (later) according to size.He attends a Montessori school that uses these in their classroom materials and he just can’t get enough. Highly recommended.Note that my photo contains an additional larger elephant purchased separately as well as a pair of orange tweezers. See also my photo with size comparison of the elephant in the Wild Toob vs. other larger elephants sold separately.