Oligo-scenes!

Baluchitherium (= baluchistan beast) from Starlux

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    Its scientific name is now Paraceratherium (= almost hornless rhino) There were several species. the biggest one, which is commonly represented is "Paraceratherium transouralicum". Bones had been found by the british paleontologist Sir Clive Forster-Cooper in 1909 and 1910 in Bugtis tribe territory. But they belonged to different species and many were missing. So, different reconstructions were proposed, some with rather short necks, others with giraffe-like ones!..

    Mr Massat, the Starlux brand sculptor, followed the first proposition, the one with a short neck. We are sure he did'nt follow this Zdenek Burian's painting:

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   Because of tribal wars, there were no new possibilities to organise expeditions until 1995 when the french paleontologist Jean-Loup Welcomme from Montpellier University could reach Bugtis territory under its Lord's protection. He turned back during few years and, in 1999, found an almost complete skeleton of a single species, the baluchitherium and so, could reconstitute the whole animal. He described it as a gigantic and stocky okapi-like animal in shape.

  So we have now good reconstructions:

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("Mammals History" from Francis Duranthon, Bréal editions 2006)

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("Mammals of Prehistory" from Alan Turner and Mauricio Anton, Nathan editions 2004)

  So, if most of baluchitherium replicas show a neck far too long (CollectA), the neck of this Starlux replica seems a little too short!.. other mistake, it would have had only 3 toes and hooves on fore limbs!.. but all these details were unknown in the seventies!..
 ..but I wonder which illustration or drawing Mr massat followed to cover the neck of its baluchitherium with a mane!..

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..what is sure is its big size! (here with a very big indian rhino 2m at shoulder).. baluchitherium is regarded as the biggest terrestrial mammal ever known (weight:15-20 T)!

..but curiously, this replica is one of the smallest of Starlux range!

 Replicas of this spectacular animal  are not very common among vintage brands (Lido Nabisco, Starlux) and modern ones (CollectA) maybe because of its outstanding size!..

Paraceratherium is a prehistoric creature that never received much atention from toy animal makers. Despite being the largest of all, it never received atention similar to mamoths, smilodons or woolly rhinos. It doesn't have big tusks, big horn or saber teeth, butits size its so incredible that it could easily serve on its own to turn this creature more popular.
Obviously I love again your pictures and all your research around it. The picture with the rhino is also really great! If we get impressed with the size of a rhino anytime we see it, I wonder how it was if we had the chance of seeing a real paraceratherium!

So great diorams you are making Alain !

I really like Paraceratherium and I am waiting for a nice model , for soo long ...
But, look, what is comming soon :

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Eh Kosta! That's not fair! Is iToy releasing this... I don't know what to say!

Roger wrote:

Eh Kosta! That's not fair! Is iToy releasing this... I don't know what to say!

Yeah .. it looks fabulous . It will come some time this year...let`s see when

oh wonderful new Kosta!.. but which country ITOY brand is from please?.. and why "dark Night Beast"?..

Thank to you both Rogério and Kosta! :)

I enjoy very much to read the stories behind these models /animals

Fun thing, - my Paraceratherium is grey

Thank you Susane! :)

.. yes, grey is the colour generaly used for large animals (elephants, hippo, rhino..)

 OK I think I found the illustration Mr Massat sculpted its replica from:

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..same short neck and mane!..

..it's from this Panini albom:

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Alain, it seems you've found it.

costicuba wrote:

Roger wrote:

Eh Kosta! That's not fair! Is iToy releasing this... I don't know what to say!

Yeah .. it looks fabulous . It will come some time this year...let`s see when

I suspect it is a resin model and surely over 50€. Obviously it will worth the money but for now it is better to be back to my collecting planet.

Caracal wrote:

oh wonderful new Kosta!.. but which country ITOY brand is from please?.. and why "dark Night Beast"?..

Thank to you both Rogério and Kosta! :)

ITOY, I`m not 100% sure, but I think it is a chinece company . Till now I saw only dinosaurus from them. This is the first mammal.
Why "dark Night Beast"?.. , I have no idea    But as we can see from PNSO or REBOR, sometimes, they give strange names to their models.

Roger wrote:

I suspect it is a resin model and surely over 50€. Obviously it will worth the money but for now it is better to be back to my collecting planet.

It might be a resin, but also can be a plastic ... ITOY used both for their models. For this model , I think it will be fine for them if they make it from plastic material. About the price, whatching other models from them .. yeah, it can be even over 50€ ..
But I have a feeling that soon or later maybe we will see this animal made from Eofauna

Alain, I`m sorry that I went off topic

No Kosta, you 're into! Thank you very much for this so exciting information for till now, I could'nt decide myself ordering the too giiraffe-like CollectA one! :)

You are welcome :)

Caracal wrote:

till now, I could'nt decide myself ordering the too giiraffe-like CollectA one! :)

I had the same dilemma .. but I decided to wait for a better model :)

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the fight seems to be fair.. but..

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( Daeodon from CollectA, stripped hyaenodon from Safari ltd, the other one from Mojo fun)

What a beautiful setting and excellent photos!

Caracal wrote:

30 millions years B.P. in North America, Brontotherium (= thunder big beast) from Starlux:

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brontotherium belongs to a disapeared ongulate perissodactyl family close to Rhinos, tapirs and horses ones. It was bigger than contemporaneous white rhino with 2,5m at shoulder! Its eyes were curiously next to muzzle and eated Foliages and fruits..

Here yet, Mr Massat seems to have been inspirated from Zdenek Burian's picture:

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I have to say it...I studied Oligocene fossils. From the Whitneyan NALMA, about 31-33 Ma. Brontotheres were extinct before then.

Brontotheres were extinct by the end of the Chadronian NALMA (latest Eocene), 34Ma. They are super common fossils from the Eocene sites in southern Saskatchewan, where my field area was.

The whole 'Oligocene' thing is actually partially because of the Saskatchewan sites--the dating of the area was messed up when it was discovered in the late 1800s, calling the whole region late Eocene; when the NALMA were developed, the entire Saskatchewan Cypress Hills Fm fossil region was considered a paratype locale.

Turns out, it's actually a range of times from the late Palaeocene to the mid-Miocene (seriously, it's an amazing, scattered but unbroken series of time periods within the mid Tertiary, I think about 30 million years of time overall)!

So...pedantic rant almost over...the scenes are latest Eocene. They're very nice though.

I feel better now.

Caracal wrote:

Rogerio, when natives Indians were finding big bones of Brontotheriums after strong rains, they thought they were belonging to a kind of giants horses whose full gallops in the clouds, were the explanation of thunder! :)

I've always wondered...what did they think they were before the Spanish reintroduced horses in the 1500s?

..maybe that they were bones of giant buffaloes.. thank you sbell! :)


 Many thanks to you too Andreas and Paige!

Beautiful waterside shots, it's a lovely background to your story with these lovely models!

Thank you very much Bonnie! :)

somewhere in what is now Pakistan:



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(CollectA last version)

What is he looking for? A mate? He looks lonesome.
Lovely photos as always and a nice model.


I have the 2009 Paraceratherium, i like the new better.

 maybe!.. You noticed well it is a lonesome male!

Thank you Tove!

You really want me to like this figure more than I prepared to. those pictures are really beautiful and I like how you try to give the impression of how tall these creatures were.
Thatt second picture is priceless!