The new Bullyland Okapis

And the main predator is the Homo sapiens, even able to determine millions of colours is turning the wild life in a black history!

remrock02 wrote:

Sorry to disagree with you Sergey, but the latest studies of the rod and cone structure of the retina of many members of the animal kingdom show that many animals including birds, insects, aquatic creatures and probably the domestic cat can differentiate more than black and white. Green, blue and yellow hues are the easiest to detemine, where as red is the hardest to tell. There is a lot of current researching showing the animals of the animal kingdom see more than black and white.

...Well, discussion? I didn,t keep in mind birds, insects and many others... I did say only about predators. As I know from a books and films a wild cats and especially dogs don,t have "colour" eyesight. So all a striated and spotty herbivorous animals has a chance in the thick grass or leaf! But then predators has a fine sense of smell and keen ear!





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Great photos but what on earth are the ribcages there for? They look really really awful! I dont like the ribcages on them at all - it totally ruins the model for me now and I was really looking forward to getting this.

Also the colouring is very pink/reddish - what on earth are Bullyland doing? How can they get this so wrong. The pose is great but that all I see going for it....sorry for not being so optimistic but I am really disheartened by this model now....

HKHollinstone wrote:

Wow, she is quite big! I was hoping they'd be the same scale as Papo - don't like the ribcage at all. They both need a repaint - so I think I get them, sand down the funny lines and repaint them, as the actual sculpt is beautiful.

Would be great to see the end result! Can't wait to see the photos Harriet!

Sergey, for years dogs and cats where listed as dichromatic animals meaning that they only saw in black and white. Do to the latest research by veterinary ophthamologists they are now classified as trichromatic meaning that they can see more colors. They have currently indentifed that dogs and cats actually see in hues of the blue/violet and into the yellow area of the color spectrum. There is also new studies showing that some canines may also see some phases of red.

remrock02 wrote:

Sergey, for years dogs and cats where listed as dichromatic animals meaning that they only saw in black and white. Do to the latest research by veterinary ophthamologists they are now classified as trichromatic meaning that they can see more colors. They have currently indentifed that dogs and cats actually see in hues of the blue/violet and into the yellow area of the color spectrum. There is also new studies showing that some canines may also see some phases of red.

...Oh, actually? Thank for information!

I have mixed emotions about these two. I was so looking forward to getting them. Thanks for the photos Torben.

remrock02 wrote:

Sergey, for years dogs and cats where listed as dichromatic animals meaning that they only saw in black and white. Do to the latest research by veterinary ophthamologists they are now classified as trichromatic meaning that they can see more colors. They have currently indentifed that dogs and cats actually see in hues of the blue/violet and into the yellow area of the color spectrum. There is also new studies showing that some canines may also see some phases of red.

All right Remrock (By the way I forget your first name ) It is very interresting. But I still can't understand why you say a reddish coat would be so dangerous for okapis. Of course I agree the colours of the coat can be an adaptation to avoid predation. But, as far as I undestand, if a specie survive, it only means that his coat is not enough dangerous... Evolution is a very good makeshift job : You inherit your father and mother's coat, if you survive with it, it only means it is not a problem. If the only survivors are the darker ones, it means the reddish coats are a big problem. So I'm not sure we can say okapis are not reddish because reddish okapis would not survive predation, red river hogs and bongos live in the same dense forest and they survive.

What a great collection of okapi's, thanks for the photos. I have to agree with some of the others, I don't like the color or the ribcage, but I love the pose.

Ok, the red colour is obvious present in those Central-African jungles, but is still don't like it, i rather would like to see them in a darker brown...
But for that, the Safari okapi is to dark...
As one of the pictures showed before, they can show ribs, but i don't think it was neccesary to show them on this model...
Not all the models can be accurate as they should be maybe...
Anyway, they will come to my collection to, as i love okapi's...

of course... I don't like the okapi's colors too But...

More colors and more ribbs .

By the way Where did I see this animal ???

It look goods! But the rib cage is part of my mixed feeling ???

The Okapi in this picture looks ill

Some animals you can see their bones very clearly - but Okapis never struck me as being boney creatures.
Okapi's coats do have red in them but they are much darker then the Bullyland one. I can see almost purple colours in their coats too.

beautiful animals! what nature does.....! :)

alexmotoc wrote:

beautiful animals! what nature does.....! :)

Yes, i know the are reddish okapi's around, as variation in a species is part of evolution.
And that you can see ribs here and then, seems logical to.
Some of the okapi's on the pics seem to be ill indeed, as Harriet mentioned...
But the ribs on the Bullyland model seem to be on the wrong place, and are more or less cornered...

Hi kiki, My name is Larry. After thinking about my original statement perhaps it was too simple. I was thinking about predators and there ability to see different hues of color. The statement can also be based on the difference between the okapi and the bongo's environment. The okapi is a single species of the Giraffe family known to only live in the dense forests of the Congo. The range of the Okapi is much more restricted than the bongo. The Okapi is known to seldom venture out of the deep forest and has adapted its dark brown color to remain hidden in this environment.
The bongo is actually a member of the bovine family and their are actually two subspecies of the bongo. They are the Eastern or Mountain Bongo which is highly endangered and lives in Central Kenya. The other subspecies of Bongo is the Western or Lowland Bongo which lives in a number of countries in western Africa and is listed as vulnerable. The point of color and evolution is proven if you look at the differences in the coat color of the two subspecies of bongo. The Eastern Bongo is known for its very red red coat whereas the Western Bongo is more brownish red in color.
In fact the bongos that overlap in the territory of the okapi can be almost brown in color. There is also a difference in the predators that prey on bongo. Depending on location the predators include leopard, hyena and lion. As you probably know each of these are vastly different in the way that they hunt. Therefore based on this information I still think a red Okapi would have a disadvantage over a dark brown Okapi.

Looking at the picture that Harriet suggests that the Okapi might be ill, There is a strong possibility that this female is pregnant. The distended abdomen and boney ribcage is similar to alot of animals in late stages of gestation. Alot of the red color in these photos is due to sun bleaching. My very dark bay Arab gelding sun bleachs out red in the warm sunny summer.

Interesting Larry! :)

WILLYBACOMAN wrote:

Yes, i know the are reddish okapi's around, as variation in a species is part of evolution.
And that you can see ribs here and then, seems logical to.
Some of the okapi's on the pics seem to be ill indeed, as Harriet mentioned...
But the ribs on the Bullyland model seem to be on the wrong place, and are more or less cornered...

Willy, Harriet, Roger, Larry...

I don't try to say the Bullyland okapis are very fine and I will show you pics which proove it...

Actually, the okapis pics disappoint me, I don't like their ribbcage, they look odd to me. I don't like their color and I think too that it mustbe darker.

I posted pics and words to answer to Larry when he said :

remrock02 wrote:

Congrats Torben on the new okapis. I like the
figures but do not like the red colors. Okapis are known for their dark brown velvet coats. The red coats look like they are sun bleached.
Okapis live in very dense forest cover and the red would definately help predators find them.

I read your very interresting posts Larry .

What you say is true but I still don't agree...

I think we can't say the red would definitely help predators find them.

As far as I understand evolution and natural selection, an individual inherit his characteristics from his parents and sometimes have new characteristics. If one characteristics unable you to survive or give you a weakness in the competition, then you will be unable to reproduce you and sooner or later this characteristic will disappear of the specie. If one characteristic doesn't weak or favour you, it could stay generation after generation, it doesn't matter... If one charcteristic gives you a big advantage to success, then, sooner or later, the individuals who have this characteristic will be the only one who survive and this characteristic will be a specie characteristic.
Now, a characteristic can be very good in a specific environment, so good that every member of the specie need it to survive. Then a big ecosystem transformation occur. In the new environment, if this characteristic is still very good, it will stay among all the specie. If it put individuals at a disadvantage, then it will disappear of the species characteristics... or the species will extinct sooner or later. If a charcateristic which didn't matter in the first ecosystem become a favour in the second, then it will become soon a specie charcateristic because only their owners will survive.

For me what does it means for the okapis ? Okapis are dark brown or dark reddish because they inherit this from their ancestors. If their ancestors were all dark brown too before then we can conclude that the dark brown coat is not a weakness in the dense jungle. If their ancestor's coats were sometimes more lighter brown or red, it means only the darker survived and this characteristic is now a must have for okapis... Then Larry is right.
Unfortunatey, we don't know the colour of the ancestor's coat. So we can only say the dark brown coat is not a weakness.

Kikimalou wrote:

Willy, Harriet, Roger, Larry...

I don't try to say the Bullyland okapis are very fine and I will show you pics which proove it...

Actually, the okapis pics disappoint me, I don't like their ribbcage, they look odd to me. I don't like their color and I think too that it mustbe darker.

...So the most part of the participants by "bully okapi,s public debate" did,nt like models and they "condemned" it for red colour and ribbcage! My friends maybe your opinions are some subjective? It,s very cute models (adult and calf) more better than Schleich model for example. And for example Me and our friend Martin likes those poor "red and ribbcagecal mother and baby". Will you feel sorry!

Sergey, I like very much the pose, it is indeed better than the Schleich... But the colours are, not only red, but poor and the models don't need the ribbs

Kikimalou wrote:

... the models don't need the ribbs

At least the visible ones

Hi Kiki I am glad that we can agree to disagree at this forum. That is what makes this forum so great. I think we both have very strong arguments and in many ways have very valid points. The world of nature is a very complex and beautiful web. I think we can both agree on that! Thanks for your opinions. Its nice to hear your point of view..

I will let you know that the Eastern Bongos that I saw in Kenya were a very dark rich red. There coats were beautiful russet in color. There coats are very different than Okapis. Being an Okapi fanatic I have made it a point to visit as many zoos in North America that house them. Currently there are about 25 zoos that have Okapis in N. America and I have been to 22 of them. I will be able to visit 2 more this spring. I will say of these Okapis 95 % of them have been a very dark brown coat.

I can live with the new Bullyland models but not the color. Perhaps I may send them to England to visit Harriet so she can give them her magical touch with the paint brush.