Cape Eagle-Owl (Bubo capensis) - "UNICATE" maximum card created for me by my friend F., from South Africa

My friend F. went personally to a post office in Krugersdorp, South Africa, and obtained the postmark for this, and for other UNIKAT maximum cards (without duplicates) that she created at my request, for me.

 Thank you, again! :)

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By the way, what do you understand if I say "This maximum card is UNIQUE?"

Well, it may mean different things, to different people.

It may mean that it has an unusual, original design - but how many copies have been manufactured from this design? Several?

It may mean that this specific configuration stamp+postmark+postcard was created by only one collector, but  she may have obtained 100 "duplicates", "copies", all identical.

What I wanted to say is that THERE IS NO COPY of it - only one specimen of this maximum card.

So, why don't I invent a word in the English language, that is a noun (not an adjective): UNICATE.

It means that there's only 1 (one) in the whole world.

No DUPLICATE, no TRIPLICATE, etc.

This maximum card is a UNICATE.

There is already such a noun in German: UNIKAT.

From there, it was adopted in Romanian: UNICAT.

So, why not in English, too: UNICATE, to rhyme with DUPLICATE and TRIPLICATE.

:)

The second-biggest owl in the world: The Eurasian Eagle-Owl (Bubo bubo) - maximum card from Romania

Some say that it can swallow a hedgehog whole.

Aw, come on!

Why scratch its GI tract?

Moral of the story: don't do something  just because you can. Eventually, it may hurt you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubo_bubo

Would you like to see what countries have issued stamps with this bird?

Visit a superb website:

http://www.birdtheme.org/species/imagespage.php?spec=771&fl=B

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Happy Postcard Friendship Friday! :) 

Please visit http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com

Not the true Devil [if there is a true one]: Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) - official maximum card from Australia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tasdevil_large.jpg

He's got the Devil in his eyes?...or maybe in his menacing screech/growl/yawn?

"The size of a small dog, but stocky and muscular, the Tasmanian devil is now the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world after the extinction of the thylacine in 1936. It is characterized by its black fur, pungent odour when stressed, extremely loud and disturbing screech, and ferocity when feeding. It is known to both hunt prey and scavenge carrion and although it is usually solitary, it sometimes eats with other devils."

You have no idea how many devils are out there, growling in the dark, in the dead of the night...:)

If you search the Internet for who has the strongest bite of any animal (not just mammals), you'll discard bogus answers like Pelosi, Lovelace, Tyson, etc., and you'll see that other contenders are the extinct marsupial lion, the great white shark and some crocodilian, either crocodile or alligator.

"Spotted Hyenas have a strong bite proportional to their size, but the view that they have the strongest bite is a myth; and a number of other animals (including the Tasmanian devil) are proportionately stronger"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyena

"An analysis of mammalian bite force relative to body size shows that the devil has the strongest bite of any living mammal, over 5,100 psi (35,000 kPa).^[9] The power of the jaws is in part due to its comparatively large head."

A devilish scheme?
" Devils are not monogamous, and females will mate with several males if not guarded after mating."
The Guardian takes it all, unless he loses control.


The race to get a secure, continuous grip for 100 days: 20-30 newborn devils compete for 4 nipples in the pouch.
" Gestation lasts 21 days, and devils give birth to 20-30 young,^[8] each weighing approximately 0.18–0.24 grams.^[12]When the young are born, competition is fierce as they move from the vagina to the pouch. Once inside the pouch, they each remain attached to a nipple for the next 100 days. The female Tasmanian Devil's pouch, like that of the wombat, opens to the rear, so it is physically difficult for the female to interact with young inside the pouch. Despite the large litter at birth, the female has only four nipples, so there are never more than four babies nursing in the pouch; and the older a female devil gets, the smaller her litters will become.^[8] On average, more females survive than males.^[11]"


Whether you are a pharaoh/"deity" or a devil, inbreeding is always risky.


"Recent research from the University of Sydney has shown that the infectious facial cancer [devil facial tumour disease (DFTD)] may be able to spread because of vanishingly low genetic diversity in devil immune genes (MHC class I and II) — raising questions about how well small, and potentially inbred, populations of animals are able to survive.^[26]"
"Two "insurance" populations of disease-free devils are being established at an urban facility in the Hobart suburb of Taroona and on Maria Island off the east coast of Tasmania. Captive breeding in mainland zoos is also a possibility".
^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_devil}

My Picasa public album, with many images viewable as thumbnails

Dorincard

Paradise birdwing (Ornithoptera paradisea) /male - beautiful butterfly postage from Zazzle.com

Paradise birdwing (male) - beautiful butterfly postage from Zazzle.com

My philatelic friend Jean-Michel Maes (jmmaes at http://www.myphilately.com ) is an avid Belgian entomologist, currently living and working in Nicaragua.

He said that the Paradise Birdwing is one of the most beautiful butterflies in the world.

I have created a stamp and dedicated it to him (read the text on the stamp design!).

Zazzle initially rejected my design because it had the word STAMPS on it.

I fixed the "problem" by saying PHILATELY, instead. :)

Notice how I created a stamp border with a matching color. :)

The point for you, my reader here and now, is that (almost) any stamp can be created WITH A DEDICATION, TOO, unless you violate some policy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornithoptera_paradisea