The Sundarbans | India

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Located at the mouth of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers between India and Bangladesh, the Sundarbans contain the world's largest mangrove forests.

The mangrove habitat supports the single largest population of tigers in the world which have adapted to an almost amphibious life, being capable of swimming for long distances and feeding on fish, crab and water monitor lizards.

The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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Lake System in the Great Rift Valley | Kenya

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The Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley comprises three inter-linked relatively shallow lakes and covers a total area of 32,034 hectares. Besides having one of the highest bird diversities in the world, it is the single most important foraging site for the lesser flamingo anywhere.

The Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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Volcanoes of Costa Rica | Costa Rica

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Costa Rica is home a great number of volcanoes: there are six active volcanoes and another 61 dormant or extinct ones. Three of the most noticible volcanoes are Arenal, Poás and Irazú.

For the past fifty years, Arenal was the country’s most active volcano, actually one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world. But it entered into a resting phase in 2010. Poás and Irazú are caldera volcanoes, whose craters are filled with water and rising steam.

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The Puszta | Hungary

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The cultural landscape of the Hortobágy Puszta consists of a vast area (nearly 75,000 ha) of plains and wetlands in eastern Hungary. Traditional forms of land use, such as the grazing of domestic animals, have been present in this pastoral society for more than two millennia.

Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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Doñana National Park | Spain

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Doñana National Park has a biodiversity that is unique in Europe. The park is one of Europe's most important wetland reserves and a major site for migrating birds.

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By the looks of it, one of the stamps is missing.

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Khao Yai National Park | Thailand

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Khao Yai National Park is the third largest national park in Thailand, covering 300 square kilometers; home to more than 800 species of fauna. The park is internationally important for its biodiversity and the conservation of globally threatened and endangered mammal, bird and reptile species.

The park is part of UNESCO World Heritage site “Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex”.

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The long-nosed horned frog. Part of a set of four stamps, issued 2014.

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Mount Cook | New Zealand

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Mount Cook is New Zealand's highest mountain, with a height of 3,754 metres. The park is located on the country’s South Island.

Mount Cook National Park is part of Unesco World Heritage site “Te Wahipounamu – South West New Zealand”. The other three national parks that comprises this site are Fiordland, Mount Aspiring and Westland. 

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Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat | Australia

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Most of Australia’s wildlife is found nowhere else in the world . 87% of mammal species, 93% of reptiles, 94% of frogs and 45% of the bird species are found only in Australia. The Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat is no exception.

This large, pudgy mammal is a marsupial, or pouched animal, found in Australia and on scattered islands nearby. It is solitary and nocturnal, which makes the wombat a rare sight for people in the wild. Adapted to digging, the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat is a stout and robust animal with strong claws.

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Tasmanian Devil | Australia

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Most of Australia’s wildlife is found nowhere else in the world. 87% of mammal species, 93% of reptiles, 94% of frogs and 45% of the bird species are found only in Australia. Tasmanian devils can only be found in the wild in Australia. 

 

Tasmanian Devils are solitary and nocturnal, spending their days alone in hollow logs, caves, or burrows, and emerging at night to feed. Did you know Tasmanian Devils eat entire carcasses, including fur and bones?

Once found all over Australia, Tasmanian devils now live only on the island state of Tasmania. Efforts to eradicate the Devils in the late 1800s almost succeeded. But sadly they are now threatened by an illness that has already killed tens of thousands of Tasmanian devils. 

Thx Steve!

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Let's meet Hao Hao and Xing Hui | Belgium

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Hao Hao and Xing Hue are two Giant Pandas, living in Pairi Daiza Wildlife Park in Belgium. Both pandas are on loan from China. On 22nd of June 2016, the 7-year-old Hao Hao gave birth to a 171-gram male cub.

The idea of pandas as gifts is known as 'panda diplomacy' and it has a long tradition in China. Panda diplomacy describes how the Chinese authorities let chosen governments keep pandas as a mark of respect between their countries. In the 1980s China moved away from 'gifting pandas' to countries, and instead started to loan them out.

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Giant panda Liang Liang | Malaysia

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Liang Liang is a female ‘expat-panda’ from China. Now living in the National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Two giant pandas have been on loan to Malaysia from China for 10 years since May 21, 2014 to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

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Belovezhskaya Pushcha | Belarus

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Located on the border between Poland and Belarus, Białowieża Forest is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain.

The forest is home to 800 European bison, Europe's heaviest land animal. Belovezhskaya Pushcha is the Belarus part of this joint Poland/Belarus UNESCO World Heritage site.

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Happy postcrossing! stamp 2014.

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The Australian Pelican

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The Australian Pelican is found throughout Australia, Papua New Guinea and western Indonesia. There are seven species of pelicans in the world, all of which are similar in shape and, with one exception, are primarily white in colour. 

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Cookie the Little Penguin | Australia

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The video I stumbled upon, inspired me to post this card here. It shows a cute Little Penguin by the name Cookie. Little penguins are the smallest species of penguin in the world, with an average height of just 33 centimetres. They are found only on the southern coastlines of Australia and New Zealand. 

Australian little penguin colonies primarily exist on offshore islands, like Granite Island, where they are protected from feral terrestrial predators and human disturbance. The population of Little Penguins is decreasing as numerous colonies have recently declined or disappeared. 

(thx for sending Steve!)

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Wang Wang and Fu Ni | Australia

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Adelaide Zoo is home to more than 3000 animals. But two of them are very special: Wang Wang and Fu Ni. Two Giant Pandas, born in Woolong Giant Panda Research Centre, China and moved to Adelaide Zoo in November 2009.

Thx Steve!

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Arabian Oryx | Qatar

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The Oryx is a species of antelope that lives in Africa and the Middle East. These animals have a striking appearance with long and pointy horns. These horns give Oryx the nickname spear antelope.

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Granite Island | Australia

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Granite Island is a small island next to Victor Harbor, South Australia. There are no permanent residents on the island but it is a popular tourist attraction. The main reason to visit the island is the magical Little penguins (also known as Fairy penguins). The way to travel to the island is by antique horse-drawn tram.

The main picture shows a Leafy Seadragon, a fish that looks like a plant. This  little dragon is found only in southern Australian waters.

Thx Steve!

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The dogs that saved Macquarie Island | Australia

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Macquarie Island is located halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. The island is a long, thin strip, 34km long and about 5km wide. One of the few points of land in that part of the planet where native birds and other wildlife can breed.

Since humans visited the island in the early 1800’s, the island got infested by all kind of rabbits and rodents. Introducing cats to the island wasn’t a good idea when the growing cat population became a problem itself. In the early 1980s myxomatosis was introduced and it helped for a while.

In 2007 a new approach was launched. It involved killing most of the rabbits with baits dropped from helicopters, then bringing in detection dogs to eliminate any survivors. On 8 April 2014 Macquarie Island was officially declared pest-free after seven years of conservation efforts.

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The vital role played by dogs in eradicating rabbits and rodents from Macquarie Island has been commemorated in a special stamp series.

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Kangaroo Island | Australia

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Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. The island is located about 13km off the coast near Adelaide. It is known for its spectacular landscapes and amazing diversity of wildlife. So you will find not only kangaroos.

Remarkable rocks are one of the signature landmarks on the island. It took millions of years for rain, wind, and pounding waves to create these granite boulders which are now part of the Flinders Chase National Park.

 

Located on Kangaroo Island, Seal Bay has been home to an Australian sea lion population for thousands of years.

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Part of a series of (I guess 26) alphabet stamps.   

thx Steve!

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One of the smallest primates: Philippine Tarsier

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Tarsiers are primates (a group including lemurs, monkeys, apes and humans) found only in the islands of Southeast Asia. 

The Philippine Tarsier can be found in the southeastern part of the archipelago, particularly on the islands of Bohol. It measures only about 85 to 160 mm (3.35 to 6.30 inches) in height, making it one of the smallest primates. 

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Bandera newspaper 25th Anniversary commemorative stamp. 

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