Before we begin the review, I would like to extend my gratitude towards Happy Hen Toys for sending this figure along as a review sample. Check out their large selection of animal and dinosaur figures by clicking the banner below.
In 2011 my first review for the Dinosaur Toy Blog was posted, it was of the AAA woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis). Fourteen years and 318 reviews later I’m writing my second review of a woolly rhinoceros, but a lot has changed in 14 years. Back then, the options for prehistoric mammals were severely limited. Collectors had to scour the likes of eBay for retired and often overpriced chunks of rubber in the approximate shape of the mammal they desired (mostly by AAA and Bullyland). As far as the woolly rhinoceros goes, we got the first good and readily available model of the animal from Papo in 2013. Safari followed suit in 2019, a couple of years after Papo retired theirs. It’s a model that I wanted but still haven’t acquired. Then, Mojo Fun released a woolly rhino in 2023. It looked like an acceptable model and one that I could also provide a review for, so here we are.
Mojo Fun is a company that’s hit and miss with extant animals and generally unremarkable with extinct ones, except for prehistoric mammals. Where those are concerned, Mojo Fun is one of the best companies around. In 2013 they released highly regarded models of Hyaenodon, an Entelodon, Brontotherium, and Deinotherium. Then, they took a long break from prehistoric mammals until they produced a Smilodon in 2021, and then a woolly mammoth in 2022, followed by this rhino in 2023.
The Mojo woolly rhinoceros measures 5.5” (13.87 cm) from snout-to-rump but has a total length of 7” (17.78) when measured from the tip of its horn to the outstretched left hindleg. It stands 3” (7.62 cm) tall at the shoulder. The actual woolly rhino reached between 10.5- 11.8’ (3.2-3.6 meters) in length and had a shoulder height of 4.8–5.2’ (1.45–1.6 meters). Using shoulder height, we get a scale of 1/20 for the figure. The figure is presented in a static pose with a somewhat extreme forward lean. The forelimbs and left hindlimb are braced and pushing the animal forward, and the head is looking slightly leftward. It’s a somewhat unusual pose and makes it look as though the animal is straining to reach something over some unseen obstacle.
In addition to skeletons, we also have woolly rhino mummies preserved in perma-frost and cave paintings that give us a good idea of what this animal looked like. Compared to extant rhinoceros species the woolly rhino had a long head and body and shorter limbs. It had two horns with the first horn being longer than the second. The anterior horn could measure up to 4.4’ (1.35 meters). A hump over the shoulders accommodated the musculature needed to support the horns and also served as a fat reserve. While modern rhinos have horns that are circular in cross section, the woolly rhino’s horn was flattened. It is thought that woolly rhinos used their horn to sweep away snow while foraging. Mojo does an excellent job in illustrating these features and I see nothing to take issue with, anatomically.
This is easily the best detailed model in my collection of Mojo toys (both extinct and extant). The horns are nicely textured with faint rings around them and hair at their bases. Exquisitely detailed wrinkled skin is sculpted around the muzzle and eyes. Ridges can be seen on the inside surface of the ears. Although the figure is shaggy you can still see features like the jaw line, musculature around the neck and limbs, and a slight protrusion of the hips. No genitals are sculpted so perhaps the figure is meant to be a female.
The hair detail is exceptional, with tufts of hair weaving in and out of each other and the overall coat nicely following the contours of the figure’s body. Overlapping patches of hair help imply a thick coat. It is shaggiest in the front half of the body and over the shoulders. The hair on the limbs is comparatively short and in life this would have helped keep snow from sticking to them. A tuft of hair can be seen on the tip of the tail and a ridge of hanging hair is sculpted along the underside, where hair from both sides of the body meet.
Since we have hair samples from woolly rhinos, we know that they were reddish-brown in color. This figure can also be described as reddish-brown, but it is much darker than Safari’s figure. Perhaps it is meant to represent an older individual, since younger rhinos had lighter hair. The eyes are shiny black, and the horns are cream colored with a light brown wash over them. The entire figure is glossy, and it has a somewhat waxy texture to it.
The Mojo woolly rhino is a magnificent figure that matches Safari’s in accuracy and surpasses it in detail. It would be difficult to pick one over the other but it’s great that we now have two excellent options for this species simultaneously in production, and I’m excited that Mojo is once again producing prehistoric mammals. Hopefully we will get more mammals from them in the future. You can purchase the Mojo woolly rhinoceros over at Happy Hen Toys by clicking on the banner below. Your herd of rhinos won’t be complete without it!
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