CollectA 2014: WILDLIFE - Wild Water Buffalo (88657) UPDATED

Dear all

This is my favourite animal and a highlight for me of the 2014 Wildlife collection.  The impressive Wild Water (Indian) Buffalo (Bubalus arnee).  I did put some clues out there in another discussion and some of you guessed right (including you Roger!) but I had to keep my mouth shut.  You are all too intuitive these days, far more than ever before   

Note that this sculpt is modeled on a beautiful photo of a Wild water buffalo from the Kazirangha national park in India.  It is one of the last remaining herds of truly wild buffalo in Asia and the Kazirangha is only a handful of hotspots on Indian soil where these magnificent beasts are free to roam.  These look very different from the common domesticated form and are now very much endangered due to poaching, disease from domestic cattle and inter-breeding with other domestic buffalo.  I hope this species can be saved!

Enjoy  

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Here is a front view image of the prototype's face where you can see the full horn shape:

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 EVERYONE will like this I think.  

Oh yes!!! Top in my hit list! Definitely a must have!

Wonderful! Congratulations to CollectA, this is beautiful model of long waited species in animal figures' world

For reference I attach some images that helped inspire the creation of the sculpt - Kazirangha Wild buffalo imagesEnjoy:


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Amazing! Beautiful creature!

Thank you for this informatoins!
He looks very good!

Ultimate ungulate years

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

 EVERYONE will like this I think.  

Me too!

This wonderful figurine is a must Havel

widukind wrote:

This wonderful figurine is a must Havel

Me too!  
It is wonderful and I long overdue thank you Collecta8)   

One more beauty  

Yuppyyyyyyyyy

Beautiful! I like he is moving, just a little, but enough for him to be in motion

amazing

Nice, but I was expecting something more majestic!

GOSH ! One more beauty  

Dear, dear CollectA ! What a fabulous flock of wonderful, wonderful models ! Again  

Numaan, thankyou, thankyou for showing then..again

I´m melting away...   
This is heaven :)

Awesome--Again I am an African species collector but he is gorgeous!

WOW! 

This model must i have!

Oh, beautiful model. But I'd like a frontal view to see the horns shape

Numaan, guessing is only important for me when my guess is a wish. Guessing is not hard, wishing is not forbidden. I am really happy CollectA decided to make this magnificent creature that was very wanted here!
I think the angle is giving the impression that horns are not wide enough or are not in a correct angle but maybe it is only a little and wrong suspection. I am almost sure it will look fantastic in real!
Many thanks! :)

Thank you Numaan and Collecta : a very long waited for marvel !!  

Thanks so much Collecta!

Roger wrote:

Numaan, guessing is only important for me when my guess is a wish. Guessing is not hard, wishing is not forbidden. I am really happy CollectA decided to make this magnificent creature that was very wanted here!
I think the angle is giving the impression that horns are not wide enough or are not in a correct angle but maybe it is only a little and wrong suspection. I am almost sure it will look fantastic in real! :D:D
Many thanks! :)

Hi Roger

I love your guesses so continue guessing, it is great because I think you are quite good at getting things right so it is always nice to read your messages  

You are right, the photo does not do justice to the horns, I will see if I can post another picture.

The horns vary so much between wild and domestic buffalo's. In fact, through research it is the domestic variants that tend to have the longer, larger horns, I dont know why. The Wild counterparts tend to have smaller horns but this is not always the case. I think in this case the horns should not be too over enlarged and too big otherwise it just goes from far from reality and so this was modeled on a realistic set of horns. Will see what I can find and post for you :-)