Dog literally ON the phone - maximum card (USA)

I added my MPP postmark on the back, too, for clarity.

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

Future maximum card from a Finnish birch wooden (but flexible) postcard: Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus)

Thank you again, Maffe from Suomi/Finland :) !

Someday, I'll send an Avery 8665 transparent label to a partner/friend from Finland, who will affix a matching Finnish stamp with the Boreal Owl.

http://www.birdtheme.org/species/imagespage.php?spec=798&fl=A

Then that stamp, on the label, will get a handcancel/postmark from a cooperating/open-minded postal associate (postal clerk) from Finland.

Once I receive the stamped and postmarked label back, I could carefully affix that onto my cool wooden postcard, which postcard I don't want to risk to lose it, if I were to mail it back to Finland.

Some might say that "an owl is an owl" - who cares about the different species of owls? :)
Well, the Boreal Owl is not...Karen Blixen's [pet] owl.
The Boreal Owl is actually..Tengmalm's Owl.
"This type of owl was featured in Out of Africa (film) as Karen Blixen's pet, although it is not native to Africa and was not the species of owl the real Karen Blixen kept".


"Tengmalm's Owl, Aegolius funereus, is a small owl. It is known as the Boreal Owl in North America. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae. This bird is named after the Swedish naturalist Peter Gustaf Tengmalm."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreal_owl

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