It is never SCALING back -The Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). Maximum card from Taiwan/ Republic of China

This is another maximum card from Taiwan/Republic of China, made specially for me, at my specific request, by my good friend Shu-i. Thank you, again! :)

She managed to professionally custom-create this postcard, as well as others for the other animal stamps that I indicated. Then she affixed the stamp and had it handcancelled at the Post Office.

I'd love to have such a philatelic partner/friend in every country in the world...:)

And I am returning the favor - I am not just requesting items. I am offering, as well.

"If you want to HAVE a friend, you have TO BE one." :)

The Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is a very interesting animal. Read for yourself. There are 8 species of pangolins in Asia and Africa.

The keratin plates, razor-sharp, are a great armor. Sisterhood of ants, bite me!

"A pangolin (pronounced /ˈpæŋɡəlɪn/), also scaly anteater or Tenggiling, is a mammal of the order Pholidota. There is only one extant family (Manidae) and one genus (Manis) of pangolins, comprising eight species. There are also a number of extinct taxa. Pangolins have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with this adaptation.^[2] They are found in tropical regions of Africa and Asia. The name "pangolin" derives from the Malay word pengguling("something that rolls up")."

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

How to raid a cathedral:

The pangolin raids a termite cathedral mound for a meal.

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

When the going gets tough, just...hang on!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pangolin's_tail.jpg

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/

Asian Golden Cat (Pardofelis temminckii; syn. Catopuma temminckii) - this is a dorincard that I created with an A4 (page-size) image of a magazine page.

Is this a traditional, FIP-compliant maximum card? No.

Is this made with a commercial, normal size postcard? No.

Do I like this dorincard? Yes.

How about you?

Wild experiment: go to your local store(s) where you buy postcards, and ask, with a straight face, for "a normal postcard with an Asian Golden Cat, in other words Pardofelis temminckii."

The clerk will look at you, wondering what the hell is wrong with you, then you'll get a NO.

So what's a collector to do? Nothing?

YOU do that, if that's what you want.

I prefer to find solutions.

In this case, I found this large, detailed, gorgeous image in a magazine.

I own this copy of the page (a real page), and I can do many things with it.

Of course, I choose to use it as a postcard.

I could even mail it, but I would risk getting it damaged or losing it.

The normal fate (99.99% of the time) of a magazine page is to end up in the trash, don't you think?

Well, think.

:)

Since the image is superb, I could really affix the label with the postmarked stamp onto it.

My good friend Ye Choh San (Malaysia) has sent me that serviced label, at my request.

"The Asian Golden Cat (Pardofelis temminckii syn. Catopuma temminckii), also called the Asiatic Golden Cat and Temminck's Golden Cat, is a medium-sized wild cat of Southeastern Asia."

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

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/

Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) 2 Postage Stamps from Zazzle.com

Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) 2 Postage Stamps from Zazzle.com

Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) 1 Stamps from Zazzle.com

Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) 1 Stamps from Zazzle.com

WWF maximum cards from Somalia: Soemmerring's Gazelle (Nanger soemmerringii; formerly Gazella soemmerringii). Speke's Gazelle (Gazella spekei) is the smallest of the gazelle species.

What do YOU know about Somalia, besides "Pirates of the Somalian [Coast]"?
"Black Hawk Down"? That was a case of mis-allocation of resources: DON'T send your troops in the harm's way, without proper support!

Soomaaliya?
I see three redundant letter/sounds here.
"Somalia" is clear enough for me. :)
Every language in the world, including English, Esperanto, etc., is too imperfect, not phonetic enough, not optimized. None is 100% "what-you-read-is-what-you-pronounce".
There are thousands of languages and dialects, and about 26 (?) major languages.
Every language has a lot of unnecessary complications and other problems, I think.
Or, do you have a counterexample? :)

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

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

Do you have a gazelle species named after you?
I bet you don't.
But some people do:
Speke's Gazelle, G. spekei
Cuvier's Gazelle, G. cuvieri
Thomson's Gazelle, E. thomsoni
Soemmerring's Gazelle, N. soemmerringii
Grant's Gazelle, N. granti


"Speke's Gazelle (Gazella spekei) is the smallest of the gazelle species. Partially sympatric withG. gazella pelzini, it is confined to the horn of Africa where it inhabits stony brush, grass steppes, and semi deserts (Kingdom 1982, 1997). "
"This Gazelle is currently (2008) classified as endangered under the IUCN Red List."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speke's_gazelle

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Temporarily territorial:
"The Soemmerring's Gazelle is a tall gazelle with tan flanks, gradually turning to white on the belly, and long black horns. They are approximately 0.6-0.9 m (2-3 ft.) at the shoulder, and they weigh 35-45 kg (77-99 lb). The diet of the gazelle consists of acacia and bush leaves, grasses, and herbs. They inhabit open steppes with brush and acacia, as well as steppes with few trees, and scientists suggest that male Soemmerring's are temporarily territorial."


From the gazelles' perspective, there's no such thing as an O.K. Corral; no corral is OK:
"In many parts of North Africa and the Middle East, large stone corrals were constructed to drive herds of gazelle into, making for an easy ambush. This method of hunting started in prehistoric time and continued into the early part of the twentieth century. One interesting fact is that at some point in history, a Soemmerring's gazelle population became isolated on Kebir Island in the Dahlak archipelago where the gazelle actually developed a dwarf form of the larger mainland races."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soemmerring's_Gazelle

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/

The Red Man of the Forest: The Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) - maximum card created for me by my friend Shinta (Indonesia)

I've read somewhere ['cause I don't read only from wikipedia.org :) ] that male orangutans don't fight with each other over mating rights, allegedly. Not worth the aggravation?

But here's what wikipedia says:

"Although orangutans are generally passive, aggression toward other orangutans is very common; they are solitary animals and can be fiercely territorial. Immature males will try to mate with any female, and may succeed in forcibly copulating with her if she is also immature and not strong enough to fend him off. Mature females easily fend off their immature suitors, preferring to mate with a mature male."

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

A young male orangutan may look for a "fender-bender".

Or, he may be a bender, but she may be a fender.

Fender of the of-fender (repeat offender).

It looks like a duck, but... Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) - official maximum card from Australia Post

Did you think that your domestic partner (or wild partner), spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend

http://www.zazzle.com/whatever_postage-172753759423326509?rf=238693463283865848

is the ONLY venomous mammal in the world?

You're wrong.

" It is one of the few venomous mammals; the male Platypus has a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans."

"The Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. It is the sole living representative of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), though a number of related species have been found in the fossil record."

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

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/

Size does matter for Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus) - WWF official maximum cards from Brunei Darussalam (Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace)

The bigger, the better.

"[It] is thought to be used to attract females and is a characteristic of the males, reaching up to 7 inches in length."

We're talking about the nose (proboscis).

"Proboscis Monkey belong to the order of Primates, from the family Cercopithecidae and subfamily Colobinae (Bennett & Gomber, 1993). According to Bennett & Gomber (1993), in the Old World, these monkeys are divided into two groups known as cercopithecines and colobines. Proboscis Monkey are colobines. Males are much larger than females, weighing up to 24 kg (53 pounds) and reaching 72 cm (28 inches) in length, with a tail of up to 75 cm in length. Females are up to 60 cm long, weighing up to 12 kg (26 lb). This large sexual dimorphic difference is greater than in any other primate.^[5]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscis_Monkey}

^"Brunei (pronounced /bruːˈnaɪ/ in English), officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace^[5] (Malay: Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: بروني دارالسلام), is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by thestate of Sarawak, Malaysia, and in fact it is separated into two parts by Limbang, which is part of Sarawak. It is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, with the remainder of the island belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia."

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

The Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), also known as the Spiny Anteater - official maxicard from Australia

Very interesting animal...

What do YOU know about it? :)

"The name Tachyglossus means "quick tongue", in reference to the speed with which the Echidna uses its tongue to catch ants and termites, and aculeatus means "spiny" or "equipped with spines".

[Strikethru typing, as element of comedic style...:) ]

So Tachyglossus is a genetic legacy. It comes from GENES, not GENE S - let's keep it simple...:)

"The Echidna's fur may be infested with what is said to be the world's largest flea, Bradiopsylla echidnae, which is about 4 mm (0.16 in) long."

Knob, knob, who's there?

"Like all monotremes, it has one orifice,^{[citation needed]} known as the cloaca, for the passage of faeces, urine and reproductive products.^[12] The male has internal testes, no external scrotum and a highly unusual penis with four knobs on the tip. The gestating female develops a pouch on its underside, where it raises its young."

" The Short-beaked Echidna has the largest prefrontal cortex relative to body size of any mammal, it shows rapid eye movement during sleep, and its brain has been shown to contain a claustrum similar to that of placental mammals, so linking this structure to their common ancestor".

I would love to find philatelic partners/friends (Papua-New Guinea? Australia? any other country?) who can trade with me maximum cards with the other 3 species of echidna, and maximum cards in general. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-beaked_Echidna

[Prehistoric] "The Devastating Smilodon" Postage from Zazzle.com

[Prehistoric] "The Devastating Smilodon" Postage from Zazzle.com

This is the largest of all prehistoric saber-toothed cats - 1.6 meters tall.

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

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}

White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on maximum cards from USA, Romania and Netherlands Antilles

I created this non-FIP maximum card with a real photo postcard.

I shot it (the photo, not the deer :)... ) in the Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, USA. 

At arm's length, from my car, as this doe came to see if I have any food for her.

"The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States (all but five of the states),Canada, Mexico, Central America, and in South America as far south as Peru. It has also been introduced to New Zealand and some countries in Europe, such as Finland and the Czech Republic."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer

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I'll add later other maximum card images.

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In Romania there is no wild population of white-tailed deer, but there was a stamp series honoring/celebrating/"exploiting" the fauna of the arctic region. Just as so many countries issue stamp with giant panda, when there is NO connection with the local fauna. :)

"In Valerius Geist's book Mule Deer Country he explains that by testing the mitochondrial DNA of the three species (blacktail, whitetail and mule deer), researchers have now determined that it was the mating of whitetail does [DOEs] and blacktail bucks that gave rise to the mule deer, and not the opposite as was once suspected, therefore not falling under a subspecies of O. hemionus and rather as its own species O. columbianus.^[2]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-tailed_deer}

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Happy Postcard Friendship Friday!

Please visit http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/