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).

Top 30 Stamp Collecting Blogs, according to the Guide to Art Schools website

"Top Five

1. The Stamp Collecting Round-Up: We personally feel that this is the best blog to follow regularly about stamp collection, particularly for people who are just beginning to demonstrate their affection for the hobby. The posts on this blog run through news affecting the entire community. It features writing specific to the stamp scene in America, but does not at all ignore the international stamp collecting body. Blogger Don Schilling, a retired U.S. Colonel, sets an excellent example of how stamp collection is great for a society.
   • Why We Love It: This blog is best for beginners in stamp collection but offers a trove of advice and fun-to-read features for stamp stalwarts.
   • Favorite Post: Postal Employees After-Hours
2. Dorincard: Blogger Dorin C is a stamp and postcard fanatic, and luckily he's more than pleased to write prolifically and charmingly about his obsession. He has a particular bent for stamps with wild mammals on them, but his blog demonstrates an affinity for stamps of all forms and backgrounds, as long as they offer a special narrative that's worth sharing with his readers.
   • Why We Love It: A picture-laden blog that bursts with the passion of its head writer for meaningful stamps.
   • Favorite Post: http://dorincard.blogspot.com/2011/01/floating-anniversary-of-drmartin-luther.html"

Source: http://www.guidetoartschools.com/library/best-stamp-collecting-blogs#ixzz1DbZZsh7h

GuideToArtSchools.com

Top Stamp Collecting Blogs

BBC: 'The birds and the bees'. 'Quiz: The surprises of animal sex'. Be my Valentine, in the (other) animal(s) world. To the heart, thru the body (language). Guest Heart Thursday meme. Black heart on the giant panda cub Tai Shan.

Guest Heart Thursday #44

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

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

My entry for the Guest Heart Thursday meme http://clytie-randomhearts.blogspot.com/ : the black heart on a hind leg of the giant panda cub Tai Shan, in the postcard AND ALSO in the stamp!!!.  See, I made it easy for you, not to waste too much time searching throughout the image...:)

The postmark is more visible here, on a different postcard:

The front side of the above postcard is this:

Please read this from BBC (viewer/reader discretion advised, although 'Naturalia non sunt turpia' = 'What is natural is not shameful'): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12409270 Take the quiz.

Also: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/sexual-nature/index.html

"Adult £8, Child and concessions £4, Family £21

Free to Members, Patrons and children aged 3 and under.

This exhibition contains frank information and imagery about sex."

Child and concessions? If you make your child a concession/compromise, they charge you for the concession, too? [must be another word meaning...]

"The exhibition gallery is adorned with sepia and black-and-white images depicting animals in sexual congress like this one".

Sexual congress? Aah, so that's  why so many politicians from around the world make certain...trans(con)gressions.

"Some of these displays may raise eyebrows."