Drill, Baby Drill...and Mom Drill, too! The Drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) - WWF maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards from Cameroon.

"The drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) is a primate of the Cercopithecidae (Old-world Monkeys) family, closely related to the baboons and even more closely to the mandrill.

The drill is similar in appearance to the Mandrill, but lacks the colorful face. They are semi-terrestrial monkeys, exhibiting extreme sexual dimorphism with males weighing up to 45 kg (100 lbs) - three times the size of females. They are semi-nomadic seasonally and little is known of their behavior or ecology in the wild.

Drills are found only in Cross River State, Nigeria; South Western Cameroon; and on Bioko Island, part of Equatorial Guinea. Their entire world range is less than 40,000 km², smaller than Switzerland.

Drills are among Africa’s most endangered mammals, and are listed by the IUCN as the highest conservation priority of all African primates.^[2] Drill numbers have been declining in all known habitat areas for decades as a result of illegal commercial hunting, habitat destruction, and human development: as few as 3,000 drills may remain in the wild, the highest population estimate is 8,000. Drills have also been declining in zoos internationally."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drill_(mammal)

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You will find PINK zones, even on the black-faced Drill...:)

Happy Pink Saturday!

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

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

Not a true spider, but a true swinger: Geoffroy's Spider Monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) also known as Black-handed Spider Monkey. WWF maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards from Honduras. Postmark says Tegucigalpa.

"Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, Ateles geoffroyi, also known as Black-handed Spider Monkey,[3] is a species of spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, from Central America, parts of Mexico and possibly a small portion of Colombia. There are at least five subspecies. Some primatologists classify the Black-headed Spider Monkey, A. fusciceps, found in Panama, Colombia and Ecuador as the same species as Geoffroy's Spider Monkey.
It is one of the largest New World monkeys, often weighing as much as 9 kilograms. Its arms are significantly longer than its legs, and it has a prehensile tail that can support the entire weight of the monkey and that is used as an extra limb. Its hands have only a vestigial thumb, but long, strong hook-like fingers. These adaptations allow the monkey to move by swinging by its arms beneath the tree branches."

"females are sometimes mistaken for males by human observers.<sup>[15]"


"Although they do not use tools, spider monkeys, including Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, are regarded as intelligent primates. 


A study performed in 2007 concluded that spider monkeys were the third most intelligent non-human primate, behind only orang-utans and chimpanzees, and ahead of gorillas and all other monkeys.[22] 


This mental capacity may be an adaptation to spider monkeys' frugivorous diets, which require them to be able to identify and memorize many different types of foods and their locations.[23]"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffroy%27s_Spider_Monkey</sup>

A pink element in the above picture would be the lips/mouth of the baby monkey in the lower-left image, I guess. :)

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Happy Pink Saturday!

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

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

What mammal has the most colorful face in the world? The world's largest species of monkey: The Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx). WWF maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards about Equatorial Guinea.

What mammal has the most colorful face in the world? 
Besides some Hollywood "queens", "drag queens" and "whatnot"?
Not a Drill Sergeant.

"The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is a primate of the Cercopithecidae (Old-world monkeys) family,[3] closely related to the baboons and even more closely to the Drill.
Both the mandrill and the drill were once classified as baboons in genus Papio, but recent research has determined that they should be separated into their own genus, Mandrillus.[3]
The mandrill is the world's largest species of monkey."

Unlike the humans:
"The mandrill is recognized by its olive-colored fur and the colorful face and rump of males, a coloration that grows stronger with sexual maturity; females have duller colours. 
This coloration becomes more pronounced as the monkey becomes excited and is likely to be an example of sexual selection. 
The coloration on the rump is thought to enhance visibility in the thick vegetation of the rainforest and aids in group movement."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrill

Seeing is believing.

Image is everything.

What you see is what you get.

Show me the [money?].

Look at the upper right maximum card: notice that the face is NOT the only body part that is brightly colored.

Also, notice the huge canine teeth!

There have been documented cases when a coordinated gang of several muscular males have had enough testosterone-induced courage, aggressivity and stamina to counterattack and kill a powerful leopard!

Eat it, too, while they were at it.

The trick is that they attacked simultaneously, not just one at a time.

"One-at-a-time Attack Rule

Ebert also refers to the One-at-a-time Attack Rule "In any situation where the hero is alone, surrounded by dozens of bad guys, they will always obligingly attack one at a time."^[1] This can traditionally be observed in many martial arts movies. During a typical fight, the hero will engage against one opponent. Upon knocking that man out, another will attack. The surplus enemies will circle the fighting pair striking fearsome poses, indicating willingness to fight at a second's notice, yet be unwilling to help the current aggressor attack the hero. The real world reason for this is that if the hero is simultaneously swarmed on all sides by enemies, it becomes difficult for the film director to frame the fight scene while still having an unobstructed shot of the action."

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

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

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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).

Sunday Stamps (meme)! Look at these superb animal stamps from Burundi! What is the 'Be my Valentine [mate for life?]' attitude of these 48 different species? How many of these choose their 'Valentine' for Social monogamy, or Sexual monogamy, or Genetic monogamy?

Do animals mate for life? How do they go about..."Be my Valentine"?
Animals don't technically get married, so they have (IF they have) only one (or a combination) of the first three types of monogamy that humans can have:

"Aspects of monogamy

• Social monogamy refers to two persons/creatures who live together, have sex with each other, and cooperate in acquiring basic resources such as food, clothes, and money.
• Sexual monogamy refers to two persons/creatures who remain sexually exclusive with each other and have no outside sex partners.
• Genetic monogamy refers to two partners that only have offspring with each other.
• Marital monogamy refers to marriages of only two people."

"Whatever makes a pair of animals socially monogamous does not necessarily make them sexually or genetically monogamous. Social monogamy, sexual monogamy, and genetic monogamy can occur in different combinations."

"In animal sexuality, serial monogamy often means that an animal will have a different, but exclusive, breeding partner each mating season. Generally, any animals that do not mate with one partner, for life, but do mate exclusively with one partner per mating season can be considered serially monogamous, including those who find a second mate only upon the death of the first."

"Mating system

Main article: Animal sexuality

Monogamy is one of several mating systems observed in other animals. The amount of social monogamy in animals varies across taxa, with over 90% of birds engaging in social monogamy but only 7% of mammals engaging in social monogamy. With birds the locomotion method has meant that the sharing of genetic material with non-local sources is far less difficult, and reproduction is far more successful when both the male and the female contribute food resources to the offspring. The incidence of sexual monogamy appears quite rare in other parts of the animal kingdom. It is becoming clear that even animals that are socially monogamous engage in extra-pair copulations.[1]"

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

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

Click, and click again to zoom in.

One of the most beautiful wildlife stamp series in the world, from Burundi!

I have two versions, as they were issued, so I was able to separate one set into individual stamps and place them accordingly, in my taxonomic stamp collection, by species. 

At the bottom, you can see the zebra stamp from the separated set, which set is of larger size - even more beautiful! :)

The other stamps at the bottom are for comparison purposes: they are nice (but not AS NICE), and of regular size.

The CCCP/ USSR one has a forced, unnatural juxtaposition of American Bison and Zebra -  I don't like that! Yes, it was done to cram more species featured on a stamp series with few available slots - they doubled the number of species featured.

That American Bison stamp from USA, unlike newer stamps from USPS, is too simplistic for my taste - "look what brown can do for you!".

Since USA and some other countries are such global economic powers, WHY shouldn't they also be philatelic/ stamp design global powers?

Why let the stamp design excellence be a competitive advantage of much smaller countries, such as Burundi, Bhutan and Serenissima Reppublica di San Marino, for example?

The Romanian one (POSTA ROMANA) is a famous EFO = Errors, Freaks and Oddities.

The Grevy zebra stamp should have been denominated 1,55 Lei, meaning 1 Leu and 55 bani (like 1$ and 55 cents). Instead, the whole print run went out with 1 55 bani. They did not issue a recall.

The Romanian Post may have pulled a proto-chronistic ceelogreen on this, like "Forget you!". :) 

"I'm not gonna recall you." So the stamps remained all out with that error.

http://www.zazzle.com/yes_thats_an_euphemism_postage-172784866997600135?rf=238693463283865848

Burundi has done a great promotional job for wildlife and for Burundi, even if these stamps may have been created by some foreign contractor.

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

"Burundi (pronounced [buˈɾundi]), officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of almost 8,700,000. Its capital is Bujumbura. Although the country is landlocked, much of the southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika.

The Twa, Tutsi, and Hutu peoples have occupied Burundi since the country's formation five centuries ago. Burundi was ruled as a kingdom by the Tutsi for over two hundred years. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Germany and Belgium occupied the region, and Burundi and Rwanda became a European colony known as Ruanda-Urundi.

Political unrest occurred throughout the region because of social differences between the Tutsi and Hutu, provoking civil war in Burundi throughout the middle twentieth century. Presently, Burundi is governed as a presidential representative democratic republic. Sixty-two percent of Burundians are Roman Catholic, eight to ten percent are Muslims and the rest followindigenous beliefs and other Christian denominations.

Burundi is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. 

It has the lowest per capita GDP of any nation in the 

world.^[5] Burundi has a low gross domestic product largely due to civil wars, corruption, poor access to education, and the effects of HIV/AIDS. Burundi is densely populated, with substantial emigration. Cobalt and copper are among Burundi's natural resources. Some of Burundi's main exports include coffee and sugar."

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

Another set, almost as beautiful to me, is this (click, and click again to zoom in):

Happy Valentine's Day!

==========

Happy Sunday Stamps!

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

"Location, location and how the West was won" (BBC) - Does the keyword SNUB apply to politics, too, or just to zoology? Golden Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) -> maximum card from China (PRC)

SNUB is a word that can mean many things, depending on the context.

It may apply to history, politics, and zoology, too. And then some (more).

Let's start with zoology.

"Snub-nosed monkeys are a group of Old World monkeys and make up the entirety of the genus Rhinopithecus. The genus occurs rarely and needs much more research. Some taxonomists group snub-nosed monkeys together with the Pygathrix genus.

Snub-nosed monkeys live in Asia, with a range covering southern China (especially Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou) as well as the northern parts of  Vietnam and Myanmar.

These monkeys get their name from the short, stump of a nose on their round face, with nostrils arranged forward. They have relatively multicolored and long fur, particularly at the shoulders and backs. They grow to a length of 51 to 83 cm with a tail of 55 to 97 cm."

Physical The-rapist is not needed for this species; mating occurs only in flashback:
"The impulse for mating starts with the female. She takes up eye contact with the male and runs away a short bit, then flashes her genitals. If the male shows interest (which does not always occur), he joins the female and they mate. The 200-day gestation period ends with a single birth in late spring or early summer. Young animals become fully mature in about 6 to 7 years. Zoologists know little about their lifespan."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snub-nosed_monkey

" Even within a band there can be smaller groups referred to as OMU, one-male units that are each led by an adult male. The male may stay solitary, often remaining away from the rest of the group members as they rest. Adult females tend to socialize more with one another than with other males or juveniles. Group members remain close to one another, interactions between different OMUs often result in confrontations.^[4]"

^{In Romanian language:}

^{Om = human being; man.}

^{Omul = the human being; the man.}

^{Omu' = [slang for] the human being; the man.}

^{The 11th highest mountain peak in Romania is Omu Peak.}

^{http://www.muntii-bucegi.ro/photo-gallery.html
http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A2rful_Omu,_Mun%C8%9Bii_Bucegi}

But what happens when a mighty predator attacks a monkey band of several OMUs?
We're here to serve and protect.
Did you call for back-up?
"Protecting the young is a group effort. Mothers often have helpers assisting them with the care of their young.^[8] When faced with danger from a predator such as the Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) [not too gentile with the prey], the young are placed at the center of the group while the stronger adult males go to the scene of the alarm. The rest of the day, the members of the group remain closer to one another with the young protected at the center.^[9]:


See here an image of a juvenile Goshawk - an adult is only meaner and stronger, of course:

http://www.post.ee/3321?id=3321&prod_id=630

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Snub-nosed_Monkey

Now, on to geopolitical and historical context: who was snubbing whom, throughout history?

The Imperial China, The Western Europe, The Mogul Empire, The Ottoman Empire, The Soviet Union [Empire], The-country-where-the-EMPIRE-State-Building-is-located, present-day China, etc. - everybody was snubbing everybody else, more or less, on and off. Alliances and enmities fluctuate, even coming full-circle, occasionally.

Please read this very interesting BBC article, along with the readers' comments.

"On his current visit to Beijing, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said China will soon reclaim its position as the world's biggest economy - a role it has held for 18 of the past 20 centuries. But how did the US, Britain and the rest of Europe interrupt this reign of supremacy? It comes down to location."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11721671

Think about it, baby ["baby" - that's not condescending; it's a term of endearment]. :)

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

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).

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