COLLECTA 2018: DINOSAURS - 88828 - Gomphotherium - Deluxe 1 by 20 Scale

I've got this good news from Collecta:

"The Gompotherium, an early elephant and this year's addition to the Prehistoric mammals series. It had four tusks, two on the upper jaw and two on the elongated lower jaw. The lower tusks are parallel and shaped like a shovel and were probably used for digging up food from mud. Unlike modern elephants, the upper tusks were covered by a layer of enamel. The CollectA model is shown with a partial matting of hair."

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Eric

It looks nice!

Interesting for my job too

Another good year for prehistoric mammals !

Seeing prehistoric animals like this, I always have a really hard time to picture where they keep their "nose" when digging up roots from the mud with their lower tusks.
And looking at this figure, wouldn't the upper tusks be preventing the lower tusks to reach the ground at all?
And saying they can dig up things with their lower tusks, sounds to me they can reach the ground with their head. So they could just pick up the dug up roots with their face while they were there.
Why would they need a trunk?
So many questions.
I don't get this animal at all. LOL  

At least Amebelodon had a real shovel face.
He could scoop things up. That one I understand.

After reading Simone's post I am now sure that I don't need palaeonthology books anymore. Well, I've never read one anyway.
I have the good old Bullyland that was the first representing it. Nice to see that the way proboscids are being designed is different to better. It is even noticiable when comparing the chubby Bully figure to this more long-legged and better proportioned animal.

Wonderful figure and a must have! :) I like prehistoric non-dinosaur animals.

A wonderful model, and great choice of species !!
This is another must-have-elephant-critter again

Bloodrayne wrote:

Seeing prehistoric animals like this, I always have a really hard time to picture where they keep their "nose" when digging up roots from the mud with their lower tusks.
And looking at this figure, wouldn't the upper tusks be preventing the lower tusks to reach the ground at all?
And saying they can dig up things with their lower tusks, sounds to me they can reach the ground with their head. So they could just pick up the dug up roots with their face while they were there.
Why would they need a trunk?
So many questions.
I don't get this animal at all. LOL  

At least Amebelodon had a real shovel face.
He could scoop things up. That one I understand.

Perhaps, like the bumble bee, it didn't know that what it was doing, is impossible

But to me, it seems rather like it used the tusks like we use thumb and index fingers , - to pick up things ?

SUSANNE wrote:

A wonderful model, and great choice of species !!
This is another must-have-elephant-critter again


But to me, it seems rather like it used the tusks like we use thumb and index fingers , - to pick up things ?

I like that idea.

Bloodrayne wrote:

Seeing prehistoric animals like this, I always have a really hard time to picture where they keep their "nose" when digging up roots from the mud with their lower tusks.
And looking at this figure, wouldn't the upper tusks be preventing the lower tusks to reach the ground at all?
And saying they can dig up things with their lower tusks, sounds to me they can reach the ground with their head. So they could just pick up the dug up roots with their face while they were there.
Why would they need a trunk?
So many questions.
I don't get this animal at all. LOL  

At least Amebelodon had a real shovel face.
He could scoop things up. That one I understand.

Simone you made my day, it is excellent

Though, Gomphotherium aren't weirder than Babirusa and when I look at a goat skeleton it seems incredible that this antelope is in fact a champion in tree climbing.

This animal need a trunk to eat because the shovel tusks are far from the mouth. The upper tusks were slightly curved outwards, it means it is still possible to reach something with the shovel, especially if it opened the mouth.

Some pics?

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(Thanks to M. Anton and Quagga for the pics )

Wonderful Christophe!
Seeing the animal with its head down, makes more sense.
And looking at the drawings, I get the impression that the tusks were used like "spade" and "hark".

It must have been a master gardener.