Special issue "prehistoric animals of brazil-treasures of
our prehistory" is the next release of post office the
post office put
into circulation in all Brazil, starting from Monday (13/10), the live
broadcast prehistoric Animals of Brazil-treasures of our prehistory,
with expected to launch on Sunday (12/10), in the cities of São Paulo,
São Luís (MA), São Raimundo Nonato (PI), and Cuiabá (MT).
The issue is a block of 4 stamps designed at paleoart,
artistic branch that translates scientific data into images, and was
created by the artist best miner
Rodolfo
Nogueira, that creates three
dimensional pieces of prehistoric animals and plants. The miner's work
has been exhibited at museums in Europe and the United States and the
artist accounts for seven awards.
The first stamp
depicts the Permian, 270 million
years ago. In a lake that is located today in Parnaíba in Piauí,
Prionosuchus
plummeri one captures a Ceratodus fish while another
individual rests in the shade of ferns Psaronius
of 15 meters
high.
Prionosuchus plummeri
In the 1940s, the Brazilian precursor to the study of fossil
vertebrates Llewellyn Ivor Price, unburied Prionosuchus plummeri from
rocks of the Paleozoic Era with 270 million years of age. Known as Fire
Stone Formation, these rocks outcrop in the state of Maranhao, and
represent sediments deposited in ancient rivers and lakes surrounded by
majestic vegetation. The Prionosuchus is the largest amphibious already
found in the world, because it reached to nine meters in length. It had
a long nozzle filled with sharp teeth, and an elongated body with too
short members. Its role was the same as the current crocodiles: devour
fish and any other aquatic creature.
Name:
Prionosuchus plummeri.
Meaning of the Name:
Although it may be an amphibian, his name means "sierra crocodile".
Where it was found:
state of Maranhao.
When it lived:
Permian Period, 270 million years ago.
Dimensions:
Length: 9m, Weight: 1-2t. |
The second stamp depicts the rich fauna that lived in
the Cretaceous period of the slab of the Joker, there are 95 million
years, where today lies the island of Cajual, Maranhão. In featured, a
Oxalaia quilomboensis, eating a shark Atlanticopristis. Out of the
water, a Pterosaur anhangueridae flying, a family of herbivorous
dinosaurs Titanosauros left, some dinosaurs necks of Andesaurus and a
carnivorous dinosaur species, Masiakasaurus, on the right. Under the
surface of the water, you can see in the foreground, a fish of the
genus Tribodus and a shark Mawsonia, in the background, Lepidote,
Pycnodontiforme, Eagle, Ceratodontidae and at the bottom, another
individual of the species Atlanticopristis resting on marine substrate.
Oxalaia quilomboensis
One hundred million years ago, during the Mesozoic Era, lands that are
now Brazilian were already almost fully occupied by different species
of dinosaurs. They were concentrated in areas near the coast where
moisture and vegetation provided food and shelter. In 2010 a group of
paleontologists announced the discovery in rocks of Maranhao state
coast of fossilized remnants that belonged to the largest predator
dinosaur known to Brazilian lands: Oxalaia quilomboensis, which reached
up to 13 meters in length. Different from what is commonly expected of
a carnivore dinosaur, Oxalaia did not run behind its prey, it was a
patient and experienced fisher. With its long beak and slightly bent
teeth, it would blow the water quickly and accurately to take other
incredible pre-historic creatures to eat.
Name:
Oxalaia quilomboensis.
Meaning of the name:
In tribute to Oxalá, a god of African legends.
Where it was found:
Cajual Island, state of Maranhao.
When it lived:
Cretaceous Period, 98 million years ago.
Dimensions:
Length: 14m, High: 3m, Weight: 7t.
|
The third seal illustrates the Cretaceous period 65
million years ago, in the region of Uberaba, Minas Gerais. A
carnivorous dinosaur Pycnonemosaurus feed on the carcass of a
herbivorous dinosaur Uberabatitan. In the background, you can see two
dinosaurs of the same species feeding on conifers and, on the Bank of
the pond, take a crocodiliforme Uberabasuchus.
Pycnonemosaurus nevesi
Seventy-five million years ago, already near the end of the Mesozoic
Era, while large predators such as the famous Tyrannosaurus rex
frightened herds of herbivores dinosaurs in North America, a group of
very different predator dinosaurs frightened the rare South American
forests. During the Cretaceous Period, these abelisauridae dinosaurs
lived exclusively in continents south of the Equator. They were robust
animal, short-skulled, very powerful rear legs, and arms exaggeratedly
shriveled. Its fossilized remnants are found all over Brazil. At that
time, huge herbivore dinosaurs from the titanosaurs family grazed in
these lands and were among its favorite prey. In a generalized way, the
Brazilian lands crisscrossed a long and endless period of aridity. In
that pre-historic world, seek food for puppies and partners, and to its
immense eight meters carnivore body, was not the easiest of tasks. The
titanosaurs had their defense strategies: harshest bony plates on the
back and enormous tails that would knock down any large predator. Also
in pre-history, the struggle for life was always a challenge.
Name:
Pycnonemosaurus nevesi.
Meaning of the name:
Dense forest lizard.
Where it was found:
state of Mato Grosso.
When it lived:
Cretaceous Period, 70 million years ago.
Dimensions:
Length: 8m, High: 3m, Weight: 4t.
|
The fourth seal Eremotherium laurillardi displays
two, that lived during the Pleistocene, which precedes the time we live
in. In the foreground, an individual rises in bipedal position to reach
leaves high on the tree. In the background, another moves in search of
a tree. The technique used was digital illustration with manipulation
of polygons, which allowed create virtual models in 3 dimensions.
Eremotherium laurillardi
Around 66 million years ago, the fall of an asteroid caused the
disappearance of the majority of the lineages of dinosaurs, when South
America already had its lands isolated as a large continental island.
At that time, with the dinosaurs out of the loop, the mammals left
their dens to give rise to incredible animals that, because of
isolation, evolved only in those lands. Among these were the Xenarthra,
of an unknown name, but very familiar to all Brazilians: the
armadillos, sloths and anteaters. If nowadays these animals do not
frighten us with their size, it was not so in the past. The armadillos
grew up to the size of a Volkswagen Beatle and the sloths could reach
the height of a bus. Eremotherium was a giant sloth who dwelt our land
from 5 million to 10 thousand years ago, in a period called
Pleistocene. With end of the last ice age 12,200 years ago, radical
changes in climate and vegetation occurred here. Shaken with these
changes and with the recent arrival of man, many of these giants did
not resister and were extinct.
Name:
Eremotherium laurillardi.
Meaning of the name:
Solitary creature.
Where it was found:
All over Brazil.
When it lived:
Pliocene and Pleistocene Periods, between 5 million and 10 thousand
years ago.
Dimensions:
Length: 6m, Weight: 3t. |
Here are
original images of the stamp artist
Rodolfo
Nogueira
Brazil has below its surface an extensive and
lush pre-history that was built and accumulated over the geological
time. For an infinitely colossal time lived thousands of generations of
creatures that, if not by their fossils, we would never imagine they
had existed. As ancient inhabitants of this land, they survived or
disappeared in large extinctions, saw the birth of South America, felt
the scent of the first flowers, made our pre-history happen. Know and
admire it is a
duty of all Brazilians, not only as part of the
history of our country, its geography and landscapes, fauna and flora,
but as our own history. For hundreds of millions of years, huge
depressions of the crust on which we live accumulated sediments and
debris coming from the mountains time wore off. They were
brought
immersed in glaciers that remained in these lands for millions of
years, in marine currents of ancient continental seas established here,
by the winds of a hellish desert, or then in the fluidity of countless
rivers and lakes that are long gone. Hardened by the heat from the
inner Earth, by the immense weight of the column of sediment, and the
chemistry of the waters that penetrated them; these sediments were
transformed into rocks. Out of those we took good part of the riches
which enable us to live, including plenty of water, limestone and oil.
But they keep other valuable treasures, signs and traces of the rich
and vigorous life that uninterruptedly dwelt these lands in a deep and
remote past. In these huge packages of rock stacked by time are
packaged skeletons and
trunks, footprints and traces of life that
existed here in the last three major geological eras, eye witnesses of
our pre-history. In recognition of this, and the work of countless
generations of Brazilian geologists and paleontologists, the Brazilian
Post depicts in special stamps four magnificent pre-historic creatures
that once inhabited these lands.
Prof.
Dr. Luiz Eduardo Anelli
Geosciences Institute
of the University of Sao Paulo - USP/IGc
Presentation
of these stamps took place at several places around Brazil. Image
collage on the right side is from presentation at Museu de Pré
História Casa Dom Aquino on
Thuesday November 5, 2014 in Cuiabá
city, where are many archaeological
and paleontological artifacts are found. The artist Rodolfo Nogueira
(young man in blue shirt)
and
scientific consultant and author
of
texts about dinosaurs,
paleontologist Prof.
Dr. Luiz Eduardo Anelli (seat exactly in the middle on the bottom
image) presented the stamps for some scientists and visitor of the
museum. After the presentation Mr. Nogueira kindly signed some covers
and mini-sheets for some philatelists.
About
stamp designer Rodolfo
Nogueira
"I am Brazilian. I reconstruct extinct animals, so I am a
paleoartist. I've been also working since 1998 with various illustation
techniques as color pencil, graphite, gouache, oil, watercolor, digital
illustration, 3D modeling, animation and sculpture. I am undergraduated
in Graphic Design at Universidade Estadual Paulista-UNESP. With the
soul of a biologist, I never left the infant stage of liking dinosaurs.
As an undergraduate I have developed a methodology to illustrate
prehistoric animals with the detailed study of functional morphology,
ecology and environment."
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