Last year CollectA had a huge variety in the choice of its models, from some recently described dinosaurs to large marine reptiles and even Anomalocaris, one of the most famous extinct invertebrates.
But the most unexpected model that I was most pleased to see was Koolasuchus cleelandi, one of the largest amphibians that ever lived, as well as one of the most famous.
I’m pretty sure that most people know about Koolasuchus thanks to his appearance in the fifth episode of the iconic Walking with Dinosaurs, titled Spirits of the Ice Forest.
Here it’s rightfully said to be the last member of a group that was once much more widespread, and It’s represented hunting like a crocodile, barely moving on land and ambushing a young Leaellynasaura in the shallow waters of a river.
Koolasuchus was described in 1997, and like many other famous prehistoric animals, it is known only from a few remains such as some fragments of the jaw, ribs and vertebrae.
Since it’s so fragmentary, its illustrations are inspired by Siderops, a close relative which also had a large size and it’s known only from one very complete specimen, and they both lived in Australia.
The size of Koolasuchus has long been estimated at around 5 metres, although more recent studies have shortened it between 3 and 3.5 metres.
Koolasuchus was a Temnospondyl, a huge order of “amphibians” that varied a lot in shape and size and were the dominant freshwater predators around the world from the mid-Carboniferous to the end of the Triassic. Unfortunately, the mass extinction at the end of that period was a hard blow for them, and as if that wasn’t enough, from the middle of the Triassic they had to coexist and compete with other semi-aquatic reptiles such as the Phytosaurs. At the beginning of the Jurassic, the few remaining temnospondyls were mostly confined to some areas of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana where the climate was colder so animals like Phytosaurs or distant relatives of crocodiles would not have been capable of living. One of the last families was Chigutisauridae, which included some of the last giant amphibians, including Siderops, which lived in the Lower Jurassic (about 176 million years ago), and Koolasuchus, which lived in the Lower Cretaceous (about 120 million years ago).
But how did it actually hunt? Was it really some sort of amphibious crocodile? I’m sorry to disappoint you (maybe), but it was probably not the case. Given its enormous head and its small, short legs, it is more likely that it spent most of its time on the bottom of rivers and lakes, moving slowly and waiting for any prey unlucky enough to get close to its jaws full of sharp teeth. Its lifestyle was probably similar to that of today’s giant salamanders of the Cryptobranchidae family.
Fun fact: thanks to a public vote made in 2020, Koolasuchus became the fossil symbol of the state of Victoria, a title which in my opinion is more than deserved.
The CollectA Model
And now let’s talk about the CollectAmodel!
The CollectA Koolasuchus is part of the Deluxe line and is therefore in 1:20 scale, with a length of about 21,5 centimeters. In my opinion, this size is perfect for this animal, neither too big nor too small. As for the dark green coloration with some small light green spots, I think it is a good choice, after all, there are not many other colors that can be used with a large aquatic predator with that specific kind of lifestyle.
Notice the lighter color on the belly, a classic example of countershading
Although the pose is very standard, it almost gives the impression that the animal is slowly moving on the bottom of a river or lake.
leaving aside some smears that can still happen, the teeth are alright, and given the choice to make the mouth open you can notice the more internal ones, a particular trait of these amphibians.
Koolasuchus and the paleo media
In addition to Walking with Dinosaurs, Koolasuchus also appeared in some famous but also some niche productions, one of the most notable examples being Disney’s Dinosaur.
Another important appearance was in the fourth season of Primeval (the one that takes place on the banks of Loch Ness with that very long giant amphibian). Although it is often said on the web that it’s an unspecified Labyrinthodont, I discovered thanks to a Twitter user named Riamus that it is actually meant to be Koolasuchus.
Another noteworthy appearance, as well as the first one ever, is in the 1995 stop motion documentary called Once Upon Australia.
Koolasuchus models
As for the models, despite his fame, there aren’t many Koolasuchus, and in addition to the Collecta there are also those by Rheic in 1:35 scale, the one by Paleo Creatures and the one by the Chinasaurs Reborn 09 brand.
In conclusion, just to make sure nothing is missing, Koolasuchus was also included in some Jurassic games: Jurassic Park Builder, Jurassic World The Game, and Jurassic World Alive, coming in two versions.
