Safari Ltd

Last updated
Safari Ltd
IndustryToys and Figurines
Founded1982
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsEducational animal models
OwnerAlexandre Pariente
Website www.safariltd.com

Safari Ltd is an American family-owned manufacturer and global distributor of animal figurine toys. Since 1982, they have produced painted figurines designed to educate children, with the stated goal of teaching the importance of nature and conservation through play.

Contents

The company's offerings include more than 1,000 products, including dinosaurs, wildlife, dragons and fairies, horses and farm life, reptiles and sea life. [1]

History

Safari Ltd was founded in 1982 by a German-born husband and wife team, Bernard and Rosemarie Rubel. Their goal was to aid in wildlife conservation by raising awareness of endangered species. Inspired by a deck of educational playing cards featuring photographs of endangered animals, they initially began by photographing native species in Florida and selling postcards of the photos at zoos and other attractions. [2]

The Rubels would later return to Germany and lay eyes on the educational figurines that led them to develop the museum-quality figurines Safari manufactures today. [3]

The company soon expanded to offer toys based on dinosaurs and prehistoric life, utilizing the paleontology community to aid in making the most scientifically accurate figure based on current research. This led to the company's partnership with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. [3] As a result of the partnership and realistic quality of the figurines, Safari was considered a leader in the animal figurine niche.

Presently, Safari Ltd is run by the Rubels’ grandson Alexandre Pariente, [4] who heads the company with his wife, Christina Pariente. Under Alexandre's tenure the company has invested more in developing online resources, including an in-house wikisource coined SafariPedia that encourages children and educators to use it in tandem with Safari Ltd products.

Brand

Bernie the Gator is Safari Ltd's mascot and pays homage to founder Bernard Amadeus Rubel. The alligator is a popular animal commonly associated with the state of Florida, where Safari Ltd is headquartered.

Design

All figurines are phthalate and lead-free, and adhere to worldwide testing standards. [5]

A group of professional sculptors research each animal's anatomy prior to creating a lifelike model. This model is then sent to the manufacturer for large-scale production, and each figurine is hand painted in order to capture the animal's unique and distinctive features. Each figurine in inscribed with its name on the belly on the animal (in English) to aid in easy identification of the animal.

Retailers

The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, [6] selling to a principal market within the United States, but serves international markets as well. Safari Ltd sells to distributors and retailers around the globe, providing museum-quality figurines to zoos, museums, aquariums, specialty toy stores, gift stores, arts and crafts stores, grocery stores, educational stores, and more.

Licensing Agreements

Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA. Contract with Safari Ltd signed – October 1, 1986- February 13, 2015 Founded in 1896 by Andrew Carnegie, this historic museum holds 22 million specimens exhibiting 10,000 at any given time. It first made history in the year 1899 with the unearthing of Diplodocus Carnegii, and today the Museum maintains the largest collection of Jurassic dinosaurs displayed in the Their Time exhibition. The Carnegie Collection from Safari Ltd and the Carnegie Museum lasted nearly three decades. [7] Additionally, the collection contributed to positioning Safari Ltd as a leader in the dinosaur figurine community.

Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA. Contract with Safari Ltd signed – December 4, 1990 This public aquarium was founded in 1984 at the site of a former sardine cannery, Cannery Row. Today it is an institution housing 35,000 sea creatures, which represents 550 species on display. Safari Ltd and the Monterey Bay Aquarium signed a contract on December 4, 1990 to create a scaled Sea Life collection designed using the expertise of Monterey Bay Aquarium's marine biologists and Safari Ltd's expert sculptors. Together they've created a collection of figurines which is updated based on current scientific research. [8]

Awards and recognition

Best Toy – Toddler in Reader's Favorites, Baby & Children's Product News (Won: 2017) [9]

Top Ten Prehistoric Animals of 2016, DinoToyBlog (Won, First Place: 2016) [10]

Healthiest Employer in South Florida, South Florida Business Journal (Nominated: 2017) [11]

Best Prehistoric Animal Toy Figure, Prehistoric Times Magazine (Won: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) [12] [13]

Related Research Articles

<i>Iguanodon</i> Ornithopod dinosaur genus from Early Cretaceous period

Iguanodon, named in 1825, is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. While many species have been classified in the genus Iguanodon, dating from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period of Asia, Europe, and North America, taxonomic revision in the early 21st century has defined Iguanodon to be based on one well-substantiated species: I. bernissartensis, which lived from the late Barremian to the earliest Aptian ages in Belgium, Germany, England, Spain, and possibly elsewhere in Europe, between about 126 and 122 million years ago. Iguanodon were large, bulky herbivores. Distinctive features include large thumb spikes, which were possibly used for defense against predators, combined with long prehensile fifth fingers able to forage for food.

Beanie Babies Popular American brand of stuffed toys

Beanie Babies are a line of stuffed toys created by American businessman H. Ty Warner, who founded Ty Inc. in 1986. The toys are stuffed with plastic pellets ("beans") rather than conventional soft stuffing. They come in many different forms, mostly animals.

Spencer Gifts American retail chain

Spencer Gifts LLC, doing business as Spencer's, is a North American mall retailer with over 600 stores in the United States and Canada. Their stores specialize in novelty and gag gifts, and also sell clothing, band merchandise, sex toys, room decor, collectible figures, fashion and body jewelry, fantasy and horror items. The company also owns and operates a pop-up seasonal retailer, Spirit Halloween.

Disneys Animal Kingdom Theme park at Walt Disney World

Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is a zoological theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division, it is the largest theme park in the world, covering 580 acres (230 ha). The park opened on Earth Day, April 22, 1998, and was the fourth theme park built at the resort. The park is dedicated and themed around natural environment and animal conservation, a philosophy once pioneered by Walt Disney.

Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids, Inc. and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters located in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area.

Museum of Natural Sciences Museum of natural history in Brussels, Belgium

The Museum of Natural Sciences of Belgium is a museum dedicated to natural history, located in Brussels, Belgium. The museum is a part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Its most important pieces are 30 fossilised Iguanodon skeletons, which were discovered in 1878 in Bernissart, Belgium.

Gift shop Store primarily selling items intended to be used as souvenirs

A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collections and other souvenirs, intended to be kept by the buyer as a memento of their visit, or given to another as a gift.

Dinosaur (Disneys Animal Kingdom) Ride at Disneys Animal Kingdom

Dinosaur, formerly known as Countdown to Extinction, is a dark ride EMV attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The ride features a turbulent journey through the late Cretaceous period, featuring prehistoric scenes populated with dinosaur audio-animatronics. Originally named Countdown to Extinction when the park opened on April 22, 1998, the ride's name was changed to Dinosaur in 2000 to promote the Disney animated film of the same name. However, the two dinosaurs most prominently featured in the ride have always been an Iguanodon and Carnotaurus, which were both featured prominently in the film. Scenes from the movie also appear in the pre-show, to help the guests identify the Iguanodon as the film's protagonist, Aladar.

Schleich is a German producer of handpainted toy figurines and accessories. The company is headquartered in Germany. The traditional market for Schleich products is Mainland Europe, with half their sales in Germany. The toys are sold worldwide and are quite popular in the United Kingdom, France, Australia and North America

<i>Tyrannosaurus</i> in popular culture

Tyrannosaurus rex is unique among dinosaurs in its place in modern culture; paleontologist Robert Bakker has called it "the most popular dinosaur among people of all ages, all cultures, and all nationalities". Paleontologists Mark Norell and Lowell Dingus have likewise called it “the most famous dinosaur of all times.” Paleoartist Gregory S. Paul has called it “the theropod. […] This is the public’s favorite dinosaur […] Even the formations it is found in have fantastic names like Hell Creek and Lance.” Other paleontologists agree with that and note that whenever a museum erects a new skeleton or bring in an animatronic model, visitor numbers go up. “Jurassic Park and King Kong would not have been the same without it.” In the public mind, T. rex sets the standard of what a dinosaur should be.

Yowie (chocolate) Chocolate

Yowie is a confectionery and publishing brand originating in Australia in 1995 by Cadbury and Kidcorp. It was one of the top selling chocolates in Australia in the late 1990s and early 2000s, selling over a million units a week. After a break of nearly a decade, Yowie relaunched in 2014 for US markets.

Charles R. Knight American painter (1874–1953)

Charles Robert Knight was an American wildlife and paleoartist best known for his detailed paintings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. His works have been reproduced in many books and are currently on display at several major museums in the United States.

The Carnegie Collection was a series of authentic replicas based on dinosaurs and other extinct prehistoric creatures, using fossils featured at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History as references. They were produced by Florida-based company Safari Ltd., known for their hand-painted replicas, from 1988 to 2015, and became known as "the world’s premier line of scale model dinosaur figures."

Gund Canadian/American manufacturer of plush stuffed animals

Gund is a Canadian-owned manufacturer of plush stuffed animals. The company is based in Edison, New Jersey, and distributes throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Europe, Japan, Australia, and South America. Gund is currently run by third generation family owner Bruce Raiffe whose grandfather Jacob Swedlin purchased the company from the original founder in 1925. Their slogan is “Gotta Getta Gund”.

David Bruce Norman is a British paleontologist, currently the main curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge University. From 1991 to 2011, Norman has also been the Sedgwick Museum's director.

Dinosaur World (theme parks) Chain of theme parks

Dinosaur World is a chain of three outdoor dinosaur theme parks in the US. Their locations include Plant City, Florida, Glen Rose, Texas, and Cave City, Kentucky. These parks each feature over 150 life-size dinosaur sculptures created by Christer Svensson. The Florida location opened in November 1998, the Kentucky location five years after and Texas location followed five years after that. The parks are family friendly, including many activities for small children, playgrounds and picnic areas.

Heinrich Harder was a German artist and an art professor at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin best known for his depictions of extinct animals.

Applause Inc. was a company that produced stuffed toys and collectible figurines. The company produced licensed toys from Warner Bros., Disney, and Jim Henson's Muppets. Its principal subsidiaries included Dakin Inc. and International Tropic-Cal Inc. The Applause brand survives as part of Kid Brands.

Let Toys Be Toys Advocacy campaign

Let Toys Be Toys is a campaign designed to persuade retailers to stop categorising toys by gender. It was started by a group of parents on the parenting on-line discussion forum Mumsnet.

Dinosaur Wildlife Defunct museum in Spring Hill, Florida

Dinosaur Wildlife was a tourist attraction and museum that was open from 1962 to 1998 off U.S. Route 19 in Spring Hill, Florida. A medium-sized building with a 60-foot (18 m) long hall filled with four rows of 28 display cases, as well as exhibits on the floor and walls, Dinosaur Wildlife presented a vast collection of taxidermy, particularly relating to Floridian insects and animals.

References

  1. "Safari Ltd". Creative Play Retailer. Creative Play Retailer. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  2. Benitez-Eves, Tina (29 May 2012). "The Expedition Continues". gifts and dec. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Talks with Ramona Pariente". Specialty Toys and Gifts. October 2005.
  4. Lombardi, Nancy (19 July 2011). "Catching Up with Ramona Pariente". anb Media. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  5. "Safari offers figures tested for kids 18m+". Baby & Children's Product News. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  6. "Safari Ltd. Moves Headquarters". gifts and dec. Playthings Staff. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  7. "Safari Ltd. Ends Partnership with Carnegie Museum of Natural History". gifts and dec. Playthings Staff. 9 March 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  8. "edplay March/April 2011 Page 46". editiondigital.net. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  9. "Baby & Children's Product News 2016 Reader's Choice Awards". Baby & Children’s Product News.
  10. "Wild Safari Prehistoric World Iguanodon Wins Award". Everything Dinosaur.
  11. "Healthiest Employers Awards & Health Fair". South Florida Business Journal.
  12. "Safari Ltd's Iguanodon Wins Dinosaur of the Year" (PDF). Safari Ltd Press Release.
  13. "Safari Ltd Models Back in Stock".