New to casting/molding and I have a dream!

Welcome, you have come to the right place. Alumilite has a couple kits you can get to get your feet wet and test out the waters or you can just jump right in if you already have an idea of what you'd like to work with. Alumilite also has a lot of good guidelines under the Learn tab on their website and if you have questions or problems you just ask them here.

Great step breakdown, you've got half the battle by being able to list your goals. I'd like to add a couple for you - who will be using this animals and how will they use them?

If they're to be used/played with by kids that might put them in their mouths, I'd suggest a food grade silicone. But if they're just for display then one of the non-food grades or even the Flex line would work fine. You've also got to think of the safety of what you make when you make it for others. Unless you're just going to make them for yourself?