6 continents mixed in a maximum card with a WWF 50th Anniversary stamp from UK. The Russian postcard publisher stated on the back that the postcard image shows a гиена [hyena], but I "guaradamtee" you that it's an African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus)!

I have created this maximum card with elements connected, more or less, to 6 continents.

Africa: here's where this animal species lives in the wild.

Europe: the stamp is from the United Kingdom.

Europe and Asia: the postcard publisher is from Russia, a country with most of its territory in Asia.

South America and North America: the postmark shows a Blue-and-Yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna), also known as the Blue-and-Gold Macaw, that lives mostly in South America, but also in Panama and Florida, USA. The Royal Mail UK did not let a dog (matching pictorial postmark) out, so I chose this one, with the parrot. 

It's all "in the family of WWF".

Australia: there's a captive breeding program for the African Wild Dog at the Monarto Zoo, Australia.

The Russian postcard publisher stated on the back that the postcard image shows a гиена [hyena], but that's a bunch of CROC! :)

Ka-kalinka maia...гиена maias.

:)

The animal depicted is the African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus).

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

THIS is a Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta): 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crocuta_crocuta_-Ngorongoro_Conservation_Area,_Tanzania-8.jpg

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

Don't play pink-tongue with a "гиена" [hyena]!

====================

Happy Pink Saturday! (still open on Sunday!)

^{Please visit "Pretty in pink"/ "Show us your pink" [objects, that is :)] meme here:}

^{http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/}

Isn't that exotic? WWF maxicards from the fascinating "Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands", inhabited by the descendants of the mutineers from HMS Bounty and accompanying Tahitians. "With only about 50 inhabitants (from four families as of 2010: Christian, Warren, Young, and Brown), Pitcairn is the least populous jurisdiction in the world (although it is not a sovereign nation)." I show you "noddy, noddy" maxicards with Sooty Tern (Onychoprion fuscatus), Black Noddy (Anous minutus), Grey Noddy (Procelsterna albivitta) and Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus)

UL (Upper-left): "The Black Noddy or White-capped Noddy (Anous minutus) is a seabird from the tern family. It resembles the closely-related Brown or Common Noddy (A. stolidus), but is smaller with darker plumage, a whiter cap, a longer, straighter beak and shorter tail. It was long - and sometimes still is - included within the Brown Noddy.

"The Black Noddy has a worldwide distribution in tropical and subtropical seas, with colonies widespread in the Pacific Ocean and more scattered across the Caribbean, central Atlanticand in the northeast Indian Ocean. At sea it is usually seen close to its breeding colonies within 80 km of shore. Birds return to colonies, or other islands, in order to roost at night."

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

UR: "The Sooty Tern, Onychoprion fuscatus (formerly Sterna fuscata^[1]), is a seabird of the tern family(Sternidae). It is a bird of the tropical oceans, breeding on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Colloquially, it is known as the Wideawake Tern or just wideawake. This refers to the incessant calls produced by a colony of these birds, as does the Hawaiian name ʻewa ʻewa which roughly means "cacophony".^[2] In most of Polynesia its name is manutara or similar however – literally "tern-bird",^[3] though it might be better rendered in English as "the tern" or "common tern". This refers to the fact that wherever Polynesian seafarers went on their long voyages, they would find these birds, and usually in astounding numbers."

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

LL: "The Grey Noddy or Grey Ternlet (Procelsterna albivitta) is a seabird belonging to the tern family Sternidae. It was once regarded as a pale morph of the Blue Noddy (Procelsterna cerulea) but is now often considered to be a separate species."

"It feeds in shallow water, not moving far from the breeding colonies. It gathers in large feeding flocks which can contain thousands of individuals. They feed by hovering over the water and dropping down to pick food from the surface. Plankton forms the bulk of the diet and small fish are also eaten.

Breeding takes place in colonies on rocky islands. The nest site is a sheltered rocky surface or underneath a boulder or clump of vegetation. A single egg is laid. It is whitish with dark markings and is incubated by both parents for about 32 days. The young birds are fed on regurgitated food and fledge after around 35 days."

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

        LR: "The Brown Noddy or Common Noddy (Anous stolidus) is a seabird from the tern family. 

The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related Black Noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black.  

The Brown Noddy is a tropical seabird with a worldwide distribution, ranging from Hawaii to the Tuamotu Archipelago and Australia in the Pacific Ocean, from the Red Sea to the Seychelles and Australia in the Indian Ocean and in the Caribbean to Tristan da Cunha in the Atlantic Ocean.  

The Brown Noddy is colonial, usually nesting on the in elevated situations on cliffs or in short trees or shrubs.  

It only occasionally nests on the ground.  

A single egg is laid by the female of a pair each breeding season. 

Etymology: Anous is Greek for "unmindful" (Harrison, 1990; see also nous), and stolidus means "impassive" in Latin (see also stolid).  

The birds are often unwary and find safety in enormous numbers. 

To sailors, they were well known for their apparent indifference to hunters or predators."

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

=========

Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands Pitkern Ailen
Flag Coat of arms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pacific-Ocean-Pitcairn-Island-on-globe-view-English.jpg

St. Pauls Point, Pitcairn Island

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

 "The Landing", Pitcairn Island

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

"The Pitcairn Islands ( /ˈpɪtkɛərn/;^[1] Pitkern: Pitkern Ailen), officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. 

The islands are a British Overseas Territory (formerly a British colony), the last remaining in the Pacific.^[2] 

The four islands – named Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno – are spread over several hundred miles of ocean and have a total area of about 18 square miles (47 km²). 

Only Pitcairn, the second largest and measuring about 2 miles (3.2 km) across, is inhabited.

The islands are best known as home of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians (or Polynesians) who accompanied them, an event retold in numerous books and films. 

This history is still apparent in the surnames of many of the islanders. 

With only about 50 inhabitants^[3] (from four families as of 2010: Christian, Warren, Young, and Brown), Pitcairn is the least populous jurisdiction in the world (although it is not a sovereign nation). 

The United Nations Committee on Decolonisation includes the Pitcairn Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.^[4]"

Please read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_islands

=================

Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).

Happy Birthday, Natalie Portman, born Natalie Herschlag, in Jerusalem, Israel! You are a very successful "co-production" of your Jewish ancestors from Austria, Russia, Poland and Romania. Your beloved Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for British Intelligence during World War II, so acting might be in your genes...I show you maximum cards with Natalie Portman's character Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy

I like Natalie Portman: she has it all! 

Smart, beautiful, talented, opinionated...

The USPS got away on a technicality from its own rule of non-portraying living persons on stamps.

They claim that those stamps portray her movie character, not the private citizen Natalie Portman, still alive today.

USPS wants a person to be "maggot food" for 5 years before even considering issuing a stamp to honor him/her (1 year for US presidents).

Natalie, if you want to create personalized stamps with YOU, the real person, you can do it even NOW.

Choose from USA, ISRAEL and some 20 more countries who currently issue such stamps.

Explore my blog for ideas and examples.

I have already designed such stamps, from several countries.

Email me, if you have any question.

:)

"Natalie Hershlag^[1][2] (Hebrew: נטלי הרשלג‎; born June 9, 1981), better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. 

Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.^[3] 

In 1999, she enrolled at Harvard University to study psychology while still working as an actress.^[4] 

She completed her bachelor's degree in 2003.

In 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull.^[3] 

In 2005, Portman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for the drama Closer. 

She shaved her head and learned to speak with a British accent for her starring role in V for Vendetta (2006), for which she won a Constellation Award for Best Female Performance, and a Saturn Award for Best Actress.

 She played leading roles in the historical dramas Goya's Ghosts (2006) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008). 

In May 2008, she served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury.^[5] Portman's directorial debut, Eve, opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival's shorts competition in 2008.^[6]

In 2011, Portman won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and the BAFTA Award for her lead performance as Nina in Black Swan."

Her paternal ancestors were Jews who moved to Israel from Poland and Romania. Her paternal grandfather, whose parents died at Auschwitz, was an economics professor in Israel, and her Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for British Intelligence during World War II.^[14][15]"

"Portman, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel,^[16] has said that although she "really love[s] the States... my heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home."

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

It's refreshing to speak your mind. I respect that. :)

"Natalie Portman at the TIFF 2009-01 at the premiere of "Love and Other Impossible Pursuits", directed by Don Roos, during the Toronto International Film Festival, 2009."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Natalie_Portman_at_the_TIFF_2009-01.jpg

"Owing to her scientific publications, Portman is among a very small number of professional actors with a finite Erdős–Bacon number"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s%E2%80%93Bacon_number#Table

"A person's Erdős–Bacon number is the sum of one's Erdős number—which measures the "collaborative distance" in authoring mathematical papers between that person and Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős—and one's Bacon number—which represents the number of links, through roles in films, by which the individual is separated from American actor Kevin Bacon. The lower the number, the closer a person is to Erdős and Bacon, and this reflects a small world phenomenon in academia and entertainment."

Read about the fascinating personality of this "Pal": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s

Paul Erdős, "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers", is one of the very few men in history who never liked sex, of any kind. Although he tried it, he NEVER liked it.

Sex is nothing, mathematics is everything - for him, I might specify.

"Paul Erdős (occasionally spelled Erdos or Erdös; Hungarian: Erdős Pál, pronounced [ˈɛrdøːʃ ˈpaːl]; 26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician."

"Throughout his career, Erdős would offer prizes for solutions to unresolved problems.^[30] These ranged from $25 for problems that he felt were just out of the reach of current mathematical thinking, to several thousand dollars for problems that were both difficult to attack and mathematically significant."

If YOU solve such a problem, you could get paid, in a PayPál transaction...:)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s

=============

Time for another stretch (of imagination)...

Let's say that the third maxicard from top-down is the charm.

That duel maxicard shows, in my twisted imagination, an inverted heart shape (kind of) laid down on the floor, under the warrior from the left side, with the tip of heart in the background, towards a galaxy far, far away...

Please visit and join The Guest Heart Thursday meme!

http://clytie-randomhearts.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Guest Heart Thursday -
A place to share YOUR hearts!