Canada

Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, fossils and fossil-found places, Natural History Museums on stamps and postmarks of Canada

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Contents:
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometers, making it the world's second-largest country by total area and the fourth-largest country by land area.
Canada's border with the United States is the world's longest land border.
Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land territory being dominated by forest and tundra and the Rocky Mountains; about four-fifths of the country's population of 35 million people live near the southern border. The majority of Canada has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer.

Canada is a country very rich in fossils, with many discoveries of dinosaurs and other prehistoric organisms. The fossils range in age from Precambrian stromatolites to Pleistocene Mammals. Many fossil-found paces and natural history museums are there. [R1]

The early postal and philatelic history of Canada actually started in the individual territories that were later joined together to form the Dominion of Canada. Before Canadian confederation, the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland issued stamps in their own names. [R2]
Nowadays, Canada issues 50-100 stamps per year of various topics related to the country: fossils, dinosaurs, prehistoric animals and fossil found sites have been shown on many stamps of the country. One unique feature of the Canadian Post is the large number of permanent pictorial cancels that they have produced.
These cancels are available at various post offices across the country, the list of available cancels can be found at the website of Canadian Post.
However, over time, some of the handstamps used to apply postmarks to the covers are damaged or even stolen – so the postmark is might be not available at a local post-office. Some postmark are replaced by new with slightly different design, as "Dinosaur Capital of the World" postmark from Drumheller. To get canceled letter, send stamped envelope and a cover with proper postage inside a stamped envelope addressed to the "Postmaster", followed by the name and full address of the post office. Some of these postmarks depict fossils and prehistoric animals on them.



Official stamps of Canada related to Paleontology: fossils, dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals

29.08.1986 "Exploration of Canada" 01.10.1986 "Exploration of Canada" - CAPEX 87 22.03.1989 "Exploration of Canada"
Fossils at stone age campsite on stamp of Canada 1986 Fossils at stone age campsite on stamp of Canada 1986 Fossil of Albertosaurus found by Joseph Burr Tyrrell on stamps of Canada 1989
12.07.1990 "Prehistoric Life in Canada (I), The Age of Primitive Life" 05.04.1991 "Prehistoric Life in Canada (II), The Age of Primitive Life" 01.10.1993 "Prehistoric Life in Canada (III), The Age of Dinosaurs" [1]
Prehistoric animals on stamps of Canada 1990 Prehistoric animals on stamps of Canada 1991 Dinosaurs on stamps of Canada 1994
26.09.1994 "Prehistoric Life in Canada (IV), The Age of Mammals" 28.07.1998 "Scenic Highways" 14.04.2014 "100th anniversary of the Royal Ontario Museum"
Prehistoric mammals on stamps of Canada 1994 Albertosaurus at Dinosaur trail on stamps of Canada 1998 Fossil of Parasaurolophus walkeri dinosaur from Royal Ontario Museum collection on stamps of Canada 2014
14.04.2014 "100th anniversary of the Royal Ontario Museum" (self adhesive) 13.04.2015 "Dinosaurs of Canada (I)"
Fossil of Parasaurolophus walkeri dinosaur from Royal Ontario Museum collection on stamps of Canada 2014 Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on stamps of Canada 2015 Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on stamps of Canada 2015
26.05.2016 "Dinosaurs of Canada (II)"
Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on stamp of Canada 2016 Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on stamp of Canada 2016

Notes:
[1] On October 10, 1993, only three month after release of "Jurassic Park" movie, three commonwealth countries: Australia, Canada and New Zealand issued dinosaur stamps.
Dinosaur stamps of Australia 1993 Dinosaur stamps of Canada 1993, Click for details Dinosaur stamps of New Zealand 1993


Other stamps to consider: fossil found places, Natural History Museums

09.03.1999 "The UBC Museum of Anthropology" 17.12.1999 "Millennium" 31.03.2014 "UNESCO World Heritage Sites" (self adhesive)[O2]
The UBC Museum of Anthropology on stamp of Canada 1999 Tyrannosaurus on Millennium stamps of Canada 1999 Fossil found places: Joggins Fossil Cliffs and Miguasha National Park on stamps of Canada 2014
31.03.2014 "UNESCO World Heritage Sites" [O2] 03.07.2015 "UNESCO World Heritage Sites" (design error) [O3] 03.07.2015 "UNESCO World Heritage Sites" (design error), self-adhesive [O3]
Fossil found places: Joggins Fossil Cliffs and Miguasha National Park on stamps of Canada 2014 Wrong image of Dinosaur provincial park on stamps of Canada 2015 wrong image of Dinosaur provincial park on stamps of Canada 2015
21.08.2015 "UNESCO World Heritage Sites" (corrected edition) [O3] 21.08.2015 "UNESCO World Heritage Sites" (corrected edition), self-adhesive [O3] 16.01.2017 "UNESCO World Heritage Sites" [O4]
Fossil found place: Dinosaur provincial park on stamps of Canada 2015 Fossil found place: Dinosaur provincial park on stamps of Canada 2015 Fossil found place: Dinosaur provincial park on stamps of Canada 2015
16.01.2017 "UNESCO World Heritage Sites" [O4], self adhesive
Fossil found place: Dinosaur provincial park on stamps of Canada 2015

Notes:
[O1] The first stamp on the Mini Sheet is dedicated to IMAX movies. Tyrannosaurus, perhaps from Jurassic Park movie is depicting on the middle of the stamp.

[O2] Fossil found site: Joggins Fossil Cliffs and Miguasha National Park are depicted on UNESCO World Heritage Sites stamps from 2014
Fossil found place: Joggins Fossil Cliffs on stamp of Canada 2014 Fossil found place: Miguasha National Park on stamp of Canada 2014 Nearly 400 million years ago, today’s Miguasha National Park, Quebec(right) on the Gaspé Peninsula was once a tropical estuary. The fossil beds of the Escuminac Formation, exposed in a seaside cliff provide a rare portrait of Devonian life – including 21 species of fish fossils that have made Miguasha famous.

Nearly 200 fossil species found in the Joggins Fossil Cliffs(left) reveal the world’s most complete record of terrestrial life from the Pennsylvanian Period (the Coal Age), over 300 million years ago. It is possible to find here some of the earliest fossilized reptiles. These reptiles were some of the earliest amniotes, animals that lay shelled eggs – that allowed reptiles to lay eggs away from water.
More info is here

[O3] Fossil found site: Dinosaur Provincial Park, in the badlands of southeastern Alberta, contains some of the most important fossil discoveries of more than 40 dinosaur species dating back to the Late Cretaceous Period, 75 million years ago.
Fossil found place: Hoodos in Alberta on stamp of Canada 2015 Fossil found place: Dinosaur provincial park on stamps of Canada 2015
On July 3, 2015 Canada Post launched the third set of stamps of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Canada series. On July 7, Officials at Canada Post issued a recall on a stamp featuring Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of a big problem. The error comes from the image used on the stamp, which is of a set of hoodoos (left), a rock formation found in the provincial park, located just north of Brooks, Alberta. The problem is that the image on the stamp is actually of hoodoos that found east of Drumheller, a community about an hour and a half northwest of Brooks. Canada Post apologized for the error and recalled the stamps from all Canadian Post Offices so they could be destroyed. A new stamp with the correct picture was issued on August 21st (on the right above).
More info is here

[O4] Fossil found site: Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta and Mistaken Point
Fossil found site: Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta on stamp of Canada 2017 Fossil found site: Mistaken Point on stamp of Canada 2017
The first stamp on the mini sheet shows Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta (the same design as in 2015). Dinosaur Provincial Park is known for its remarkable fossil specimens that represent every known group of Cretaceous dinosaurs, as well as its impressive area of virtually undisturbed badlands and riparian (riverside) habitat.

At Mistaken Point (the second stamp on the mini sheet), the rugged coastal cliffs host the oldest known collection of large fossils in the world, marking the world’s first appearance of large, biologically complex organisms. At Mistaken Point (the second stamp on the mini-sheet), the rugged coastal cliffs host fossils of the primitive animals of the Ediacaran fauna. The Ediacaran fauna includes the first large, biologically complex organisms that may be related to animals.



Postal stationery of Canada related to Paleontology: fossils, dinosaurs

14.04.2014 "100th anniversary of the Royal Ontario Museum"
Parasaurolophus walkeri dinosaur on imprinted stamp of postal stationery of Canada 2014



Official postmarks of Canada related to Paleontology: dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.

Legend is here
1989 "Tyrrell museum of Paleontology" [Sp] [DU] 12.07.1990 "Prehistoric Life in Canada (I), The Age of Primitive Life" [FDC] 05.04.1991 "Prehistoric Life in Canada (II), The Age of Primitive Life" [FDC]
Trex on meter franking of Canada 1989 Trilobite on postmark of Canada 1990 Hylonomus lyelli on postmark of Canada 1991
05.04.1991 "Fossil fish from Miguasha fossils" [Sp] 01.10.1993 "Prehistoric Life in Canada (III), The Age of Dinosaurs" [FDC] [C2] 14.05.1993 "Dinosaur world tour" [Sp]
Hylonomus lyelli on postmark of Canada 1991 Styracosaurus on postmark of Canada 1993 Slogan Dinosaur world toir on postmark of Canada 1993
26-28.11.1993 "Collector's show in Montreal" [Sp] 26.09.1994 "Prehistoric Life in Canada (IV), The Age of Mammals" [FDC] 05.07.1999 "Home of Big Bert" [PM] [C3]
Styracosaurus on postmark of Canada 1993 Mammoth on postmark of Canada 1994 Terminonaris robusta Big Bert on postmark of Canada 2007
22.07.2001 "Parrsboro" [PM] 09.10.2001 "Drumheller: Dinosaur capital of the world" [PM] [C2] 31.12.2003 "Plesiosaur from Herschel" [PM]
Dinosaurus on postmark of Canada 2001 Tyrannosaurus on postmark of Canada 2001 Plesiosaurus on postmark of Canada 2003
30.04.2004 "National Park Miguasha" [PM] 13.04.2015 "Dinosaurs of Canada (I)" [FDC] 13.04.2015 "Home of Scotty the T. rex" [Sp]
Fish fossil on postmark of Canada 2004 Ornithomimus edmontonicus on postmark of Canada 2015 Tyrannosaurus Scotty on postmark of Canada 2015
20.05.2015 "The plesiosaurus" [Sp] 26.05.2015 "Drumheller: Dinosaur capital of the world" [PM] [N] [C2] 26.05.2016 "Dinosaurs of Canada (II)" [FDC]
Plesiosaurus on postmark of Canada 2015 Tyrannosaurus on postmark of Canada 2015 Dinosaur fotprints on postmark of Canada 2016

Notes:
[C1] There are some FDC with an extra postmark that shows Tyrannosaurus from Alberta. However, this postmark does not cancel a stamp and has “Philatelic Canada” instead of “Canada Post”. A similar postmark was used on another FDC from 1990, but without any date on it.
Tyrannosaurus postmark of Canada from 1993 Dinosaur FDC of Canada 1993 with extra postmark of Tyrannosauris from Alberta Tyrannosaurus postmark of Canada without date FDC of Canada from 1990 with Tyrannosaurus postmark

As seen above, it is very likely this postmark is not official but instead a personalized postmark designed by some philatelic club, dealer or collector for decorative purposes only.

[C2] New design of postmark from 2001 "Dinosaur Capital of the world" from Drumheller, new postmark is larger and uses different font
Dinosaur on postmark of Drumheller, Canada 2001 Dinosaur on postmark of Drumheller, Canada 2001


[C3]
Terminonaris robusta Big Bert on postmark of Canada 1999 Terminonaris robusta Big Bert on postmark of Canada 2007
The earlier, known to date, postmark issue date (still valid) is 05.07.1999, as published in January-March 2002 Canada Post "Details" Bulletin, but date on the postmark image from Canadian Post website is 30.09.2007.
Tha animal on the postmark is Big Bert is the world's most complete Terminonaris robusta crocodile skeleton; discovered right here in Saskatchewan.
This marine predator was 5.6 m (19 feet) long; its skull alone was more than 1 m long. It lived around 92 million years ago when Saskatchewan was under a great inland sea. [R3]



References:


Acknowledgements:
Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for the draft page review and his very valuable comments.


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