Manul, Tajikistan

Another Sunday is about to come and go, and before it does, it is time for another Sunday Stamps episode - this one right on time :)


It is time for the letter M, and one lovely chubby creature called Manul .featured on this amazing stamp sheet from Tajikistan, issued on 28th June 1996.

The manul, also known as the Pallas's cat, is a small wild cat with a broad but fragmented distribution in the grasslands and montane steppes of Central Asia. It is negatively affected by habitat degradation, prey base decline and hunting, and has therefore been classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List since 2002.

It cat was first described in 1776 by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas, hence the name.

Also the Pallas' glass lizard, Pallas' viper, Pallas's long-tongued bat, Pallas's tube-nosed bat, Pallas's squirrel, Pallas's leaf warbler, Pallas's cormorant, Pallas's fish-eagle, Pallas's gull, Pallas's sandgrouse, Pallas's rosefinch, and Pallas's grasshopper warbler were first described by him, as can be seen in their names.

I don't think the manul is meowing as regular cats. but for another m-related to this, the Macedonian word for a cat is machka (мачка), so there we go :)

Check out the rest of the M's here

Meow!! .

Elephants

Hello World! Or at least that teeny tiny part of it that cares about reading this.

It is a vowel letter day, which I decided to dedicated to Elephants as Endangered species portrayed on these two FDC's.

The first one comes from Gabon, where in 1988 a set of 4 stamps was issued, featuring the African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) which is the smallest of the three extant species of elephant, but still one of the largest living terrestrial animals. From an estimated population size of over 2 million prior to the colonization of Africa, the population in 2015 is estimated to be about 100,000 forest elephants, mostly living in the forests of Gabon. Due to a slower birth rate, the forest elephant takes longer to recover from poaching, which caused its population to fall by 65% from 2002 to 2014. It is estimated that the forest elephant could become extinct within ten years.

So even though back then in 1988 this animal was considered an endangered species, seems that 40 years later, nothing has been done about it.

The second FDC comes from Uganda, where in 1983 a set of 4 stamps was issued, this time representing the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) which is much larger in height and weight than the forest elephant, while the forest elephant has rounder ears and a trunk that tends to be more hairy. The bush elephant has few predators besides humans and while considered to be the most numerous of the three extant elephant species, its population continues to decline due to poaching for ivory and destruction of habitat.

It is said that ivory-seeking poachers have killed 100,000 African elephants in just three years, according to a new study that provides the first reliable continent-wide estimates of illegal kills. During 2011 alone, roughly one of every twelve African elephants was killed by a poacher.

Seriously, nothing can be more evil than a human being. Idiots!

Well I hope others have some more positive stories for today. So go ahead and check out today's Sunday Stamps issue.... and enjoy your Sunday or what is left of it :)