here is my work in progress! Copying this all over from the WIP thread!
I nearly finished my Hagerman Horses, Equus Simplicidens today! My new paint arrived. I got Dayler Rowney acrylics and they were easier to use.
The horses look good from a distance, but under the close up lens of my camera you can see every imperfect detail
I might do some final touch ups.
How did I decide on the coat pattern?
Well, after hours and hours of incredible interesting research about Pliocene mammals I came to some conclusions and tried to draw comparisons between zebra evolution in Africa, the climate, disease carrying biting flies (tabanids) and habitat there now, compared to Equus Simplicidens in Idaho/middle America 3-4 million years ago.
I took into consideration the following -
Migrations - most probably emigrations (one way) across the Bering Strait when it opened up a few times by the Equus from North America to Europe and on to Africa - as Equus Simplicidens spread all over Asia, Europe and into Africa, where the zebra evolved.
Climate and flora of Africa and North America, in particular tropical grasslands where Equus and laterally African zebra flourished, as do the biting flies that carry disease.
The particular effect of biting flies on Equus across the world in relation to coat colour and patterns - striped and white horses get less tabanids bites (biting flies) than same colour coats of brown and black.
Stripes on zebras - why they evolved, - mainly as a deterrent for tabanids.
Their coat variations compared to geographical location - in the North they have many close together stripes all over the body, in the cooler South they have mainly wider stripes and paler, unstriped legs.
The 3 separate zebra species, all with a different number of chromosomes that evolved independently from one another,
each with unique features.
Stripes in all species are all perpendicular to the body and cause the flies to fly towards the stripes at their regular speed making it unsuitable for landing safely.
Stripe widths play an important part in fly deterrence, the zebras in the Southern range tend to have whiter legs and it is cooler there.
Tabanids cruise at just above ground level, 30cm, so landing on legs and lower body parts is more likely.
Tabanids are mainly found in tropical grasslands.
Zebras have shorter hair lengths and their hair sits flatter on their coats compared to all other ungulates.
The tabanids can easily penetrate the zebra coat compared to the other ungulates.
So having a striped coat helps in warding off tabanids. In the hot tropical areas of open grasslands a shorter coat is preferred, and there is also research showing the stripes affect air flow around the body, with the hairs in the black stripes being able to open and separate independently from the white striping areas, helping the zebra to regulate their temperature when under constant sun.
Coat patterns of the other Equus species that evolved, like Onagers, Kiangs, Somali Wild Ass all have lighter coats and bare legs. They live in places with less biting flies, and remembering that lighter coats attract less biting flies (in a research paper I read).
Cave art paintings of Equus across the world showing variations in colours, but mainly dark legs, dark neck and heads, dark mane, white underbelly. And some with spots, some with striping here and there
And the appearance of prehistoric coat markings on modern (wild) horses - stripes on legs, on shoulder, along back, and also genetic variations in zebra coats - dark coats with white spots
So after all that I came to some decisions as to a suitable coat patterns
here they are -
brown coat - will vary in colour from darkest brown to light fawn
they have a white underbelly,
black dorsal stripe,
slightly convex face,
black short upright mane,
striping and spots perpendicular to body, on rump, neck, some spotting on face and on leg areas, - many genetic variations over their evolution, but all carrying a gene for perpendicular striping/spot-striping on main dark coloured body areas as a deterrent to tabanids when in the tropical open grasslands
striping on legs, as deterrent to tabanids who cruise at around 30cm above ground
whites around eyes, - most probably they have some black markings near their eyes too to help absorb the sun's rays - I may paint these in later - think similar to oryx in Namibia, Springbok in Namibia. As whites around eyes could maybe be a cold climate characteristic.
black tipped ears,
black strip on backs of ears with white top,
hair only on end of long tail, like modern zebras, for swatting biting flies
big metallic sapphire coloured eyes (from my eyeshadow palette
drawing in rough draft of coat, changed in final version and as I discovered more information.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]filling in recessed eye holes in model, adding convex face
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]coat put on,
eyes painted in
blue irises added, sealed with gloss lacquer
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]leg striping
dorsal and mane striping
spots and stripes added
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]finished!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Toy Animal Wiki 
Home Latest Topics 
Very meticulous and beautiful repaint on theses so tiny Britains tigers! 