Happy Postcard Friday (meme)! Read from BBC: Lion (facts, pictures and stunning videos). My worldwide stamps and RSA maxicards with Lion (Panthera leo). Lions choose their 'Valentine' in a polygynandrous way (OMG!)

Read the BBC article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Lion
and here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/adaptations/Polygynandry

These are stamps from my old collection, in high-res - click, and click again to zoom in:

"The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in weight,^[4] it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. 

Wild lions currently exist in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia with an endangered remnant population in Gir Forest National Park in India, having disappeared from North Africa and Southwest Asia in historic times. 

Until the late Pleistocene, about 10,000 years ago, the lion was the most widespread large land mammal after humans. 

They were found in most of Africa, across Eurasia from western Europe to India, and in the Americas from the Yukon to Peru.^[5] 

The lion is a vulnerable species, having seen a possibly irreversible population decline of thirty to fifty percent over the past two decades in its African range.^[6] 

Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks. 

Although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are currently the greatest causes of concern."

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

For the lion below, cougars are too exotic. He chooses his "Valentine" as part of his PRIDE. However, new word you may have learned today: polygynandry.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I will create one or more dorincards with this cut-out image from a book. :)

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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).

Splendid Arabian Purebred Horses: Ras-Al-Khaima stamps

This is a wonderful stamp series of artful (not artsy-fartsy) drawings of horses. I got the 5 lower denominations while I was living in Romania. Then, in 1973 I traveled thru Hungary to GDR, so I bought from Magyarorszag the full series of 6 and the gorgeous souvenir sheet :). I still love this series...
So what if it's a CTO (canceled-to-order)? To me it means that I have to pay only 25% of the mint price, in general. The appetite for general culture was ignited and maintained thru affordable philatelic stamps, at least in my case. :)

In this website http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090929/ART/709289966/1239/LIFE
I have posted this:
"I have enjoyed philately, in general, and the stamps from the Emirates, in particular, for a long time.
Many condemned the excessive number of stamp issues in the 70s. But I thought: why don't you, the other countries, issue stamps as beautiful and interesting as those from the Emirates? As for quantity, I buy only what I want and can afford. "According to my calculations, the problem doesn't exist". Stamp collectors are not (or shouldn't be) addicted to buying EVERY stamp issue. Choose, and focus on what YOU want.
The future of philately is in collecting creatively, not just passively. Explore my websites to see how we create our own stamps, in some countries. Consider, also, maximaphily. I love it! The most creative branch of philately.
There's good and bad everywhere, so best wishes to all the good people from the Arab countries! :)
http://www.freewebs.com/dorinco
http://dorincard.blogspot.com
Dorin Cojocariu, Herndon"

Lions: maximum card made for me by my friend F., in South Africa