Do any zoos have custom toy lines?

I've played similar games but never one by that original name, wow!

I don't believe they're still in production (I usually leave LPZ after the Gift Shop is closed for the day) but when I was a child, Lincoln Park Zoo had a couple of custom plush including one based on western lowland gorilla Kwan and one based on chimpanzee Optimus, I believe. Slightly less sure on the latter. I thought it was super cool they had plush based on specific animals!

Also back when BZ's Gift Shops had distinctive identity, one of them was called Stuffed Animal Kingdom and they had a massive selection.
 
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birdsandbats said:
Cincinnati Zoo sells their own Monopoly knock-off board game.

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This is interesting! Singapore Zoo also has their own custom version of Monopoly, and I saw a few sets of them in the Gift shop when I visited the zoo this year. An image of the board game is attached above.
 

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The Baltimore Aquarium had their own line of frogs: Safari Ltd Baltimore Aquarium Poison Dart Frogs - Toy Animal Wiki

I have the red-eye tree frog as well as different versions of the dart frogs made after the aquarium's involvement.

The Tennessee Aquarium had a salamander set: Safari Ltd Tennessee Aquarium Salamander Collection - Toy Animal Wiki

And of course the Monterey Bay Aquarium collection (which is being retired this year, sadly). Of which I'm only missing the thresher shark and a few of the baby whales.

It would be cool to see more cooperation between zoos and toy manufacturers, especially zoos with celebrity animals like Magnet the polar bear or the Smithsonian's pandas.
 
MC Baron said:
And of course the Monterey Bay Aquarium collection (which is being retired this year, sadly). Of which I'm only missing the thresher shark and a few of the baby whales.
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It's already no longer available on their website sadly. It had quite a long run though, which was great. I can't help wondering if the more expensive prices for these larger scale models made Safari decide to finally discontinue them.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
One quite interesting thing I can vividly remember them selling when I was very young was their own version of the DK Finders book - like the one in the link below, but specifically about Colchester Zoo. Unfortunately, it is no longer sold and I cannot even find evidence it exists anymore.

Zoo Animals by Dorling Kindersley Publishing; DK Publishing 9780789416780 | eBay
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Quite by accident, tracked down a cover image of this book (from 2003) while looking for other information - pleased to remember I wasn't going mad and it did in fact exist.

https://www.leszoosdanslemonde.com/...ster/guidebooks/colchester_guidebook_2003.jpg
 
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The Monterey Bay Aquarium has also recently just released a Monopoly game, which is licensed. It sells for 85 dollars on the website and is 100 percent plastic free.

The aquarium also has some exclusive plushes from Fiesta such as a lumpfish and giant isopod one which both also come as key chains.
 
PossumRoach said:
I believe large zoos in Japan also have plush toys made for them. For example you can find a lot of okapi merchandise in Yokohama Zoorasia.
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When I was researching Nasu Animal Kingdom for my upcoming Japan trip, one of the first things I discovered was that they have an adorable line of gachapon figures for some of their most popular animals.

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Ultimately I doubt we're going to visit Nasu, but my wife fell in love with these when I first showed her.

They weren't the only Japanese zoo I've noticed that goes hard on merchandise, though. Whereas in the US it feels like something of an oddity to see zoos really push merchandise for specific animals over others (maybe I have a small or non-representative sample size, but the only good example I can think of off hand is Atlanta's secondary panda-specific gift shop), Japan seems to know what they've got and seem unafraid to push species we wouldn't think of as the ABCs that usually get the lion's share of the merch. Okapi (as stated), Pallas cats, shoebills, capybaras, Saitama's quokkas. Definitely at least some number of customs to reach the volume of different plush and figures they have.
 
Chester Zoo did a bespoke line of Bali Starling soft toys back in 2014, Made by Aurora for the Silent forest campaign they came in both a 20cm and 30cm sizes.
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Mandai Wildlife Reserve partnered with XM Studio to launch a series of collectible figurines, from Sumatran orangutan, pygmy hippopotamus, Malayan Sun Bear, African penguins, Aldabra giant tortoise and California sea lion. They are selling at SGD 29 to 39 (depending if they are running any promotion?)

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I have a Beauval puzzle at home, they also have their Monopoly. Also in France, Branféré have now coloring books, puzzles and some other games. I plan to go this summer, maybe I'll buy some for my children.
 
Lionsbian said:
So I actually do this for work and can say yes! The company I work for is plush and we do many custom pieces for various US zoos such as San Diego, National, Mystic Aquarium, Georgia- really any place that has some kind of stand out species or animal that's looking for a specific piece, we custom make for them and it's exclusive to them. Rex, the San Diego Zoo mascot, is a custom plush we do for San Diego Zoo, for example.
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Are there any zoo that you specifically make a plush sloth for. My wife loves them and currently has 90 plush ones.
 
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