#mamenchisaurus

Well it took thirty-three years, but I finally have all three of the Safari Ltd. Dinosaurs of China figures, sculpted by the Eleanor Kish.

Also I now have three Yangchuanosaurus figures.

These two Mamenchisauruses are based on leucistic and melanistic giraffes: I haven't really seen much paleoart focusing on colour morphs, and it seems like a natural way to do a dark/light version of the same design.

A leucistic animal has much less pigment than normal, and can be pale all over, or have patches of limited pigmentation. This is caused by a genetic mutation that prevents it being deposited in the skin/feathers/hair. In the case of my leucistic Mamenchisaurus, it's got some colour on the back, but it gets paler the further you go down the body.

Meanwhile, a melanistic animal has much more black pigmentation than normal in the skin. Like leucism, it's genetic, and results in a black animal. Imagine seeing a giant shadow walking through the forest!

I've seen designs in the general vein of this one before, but I haven't seen anything with a 2020s sauropod involved, or anything more detailed. Admittedly, these are still somewhat stylised, but I wanted to try and incorporate a bit more detail into the design.

I chose to use a giraffe as the rough base because they're the closest thing we've got to sauropods now, and therefore would fit the bill pretty well.

While you're here, I've got a question for you -: