France 2008 "Prehistoric animals"

Issue Date	21.04.2008
ID	Michel: 4402-4405, Bl. 86 ; Scott: 3430-3433, 3433a Stanley Gibbons: 4383-4386, MS4387 Yvert et Tellier: 4175-4178, BF119, Category: pR
Design	Christian Broutin
Stamps in set	4
Value	0.55€ - Phorusrhacos (misspelled Phorusrhacos) 0.55€ - Smilodon 0.65€ - Megaloceros 0.88€ - Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and Neandertal hunters
Emission/Type	commemorative
Issue place	Paris, Rinxent, Montbeliard, Tarascon sur Ariege
Size (width x height)	40,85 x 30 mm / 30 x 40,85 ; Mini-Sheet: 110 mm x 160 mm
Layout	Sheet of 40 stamps, Mini-Sheet with 4 stamps
Products	FDC x4
Paper	no Watermark, without phosphor strip
Perforation	13 x 13
Print Technique	Rotogravure, Multicolor
Printed by	Phil@Poste Boulazac
Quantity
Issuing Authority	La Poste

On April 21^st, 2008, the Post Authority of France issued a set of 4 stamps "Prehistoric animals", printed as Mini-Sheets of the set of 4 and sheets of each individual stamp. Sheets contain 40 stamps.
The set depicts four prehistorical animals who lived at different times in different part of the world and could not have lived together as these animals lived at different times and in different parts of the world, are depicted on the Mini-Sheet, as well as some Neanderthals hunters. The animals are: Megaloceros - great deer - "Irish elk", Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and Neandertal hunters, Phorusrhacos (misspelled Phorusrhacos), Smilodon.

Megaloceros - great deer - "Irish elk"

Great deer Megaloceros on stamp of France 2008, MiNr.: 4177, Scott: 3432.

The Irish Elk, Megaloceros, is misnamed, for it is neither exclusively Irish nor is it an elk. It is a giant extinct deer, the largest deer species ever, that stood up to seven feet at the shoulder (2.1 meters), with antlers spanning up to 12 feet wide (3.65 meters).
The Irish elk evolved during the glacial periods of the last million years, during the Pleistocene Epoch.
It ranged throughout Europe, northern Asia and northern Africa, and a related form is known from China.
The name "Irish" has stuck because excellent, well-preserved fossils of the giant deer are especially common in lake sediments and peat bogs in Ireland. On the other hand, the complete skeleton, on display at the Paleontological Institute in Moscow, was found at the other end of Europe, near the Russian town of Sapozhek.
Megaloceros savini first found near Sainte Savine, France. Its antlers were straight, with thorn-like prongs. The lowermost prongs near the base were palmate.

A Mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus.

Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and Neandertal hunters on stamp of France 2008, MiNr.: 4178, Scott: 3433.

These proboscideans are members of the Elephantidae, the family of elephants, mammoths, and their close relatives.
They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair. They lived from the Pliocene Epoch from around 4.8 million years ago, into the Holocene about 4,500 years ago.
The word mammoth comes from the Russian mamont, probably in turn from the Vogul (Mansi) language, mang ont, meaning "earth horn". Like their modern relative, the elephant (Asian or African), mammoths were quite large.
The largest known species, Songhua River mammoth (Mammuthus sungari), reached heights of at least 5 meters at the shoulder. Mammoths would probably normally weigh in the region of 6 to 8 tons, but exceptionally large males may have exceeded 12 tons.
However, most species of mammoth were only about as large as a modern Asian Elephant. Fossils of species of dwarf mammoth have been found on the Californian Channel Islands (Mammuthus exilis) and the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Mammuthus lamarmorae). There was also a race of dwarf woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island, north of Siberia, within the Arctic Circle.

Phorusrhacos (Terror Bird)

Phorusrhacos on stamp of France 2008, MiNr.: 4176, Scott: 3430.

Florentino Ameghino on stamp Argentina 1956, MiNr.: 649, Scott: 658.

Phorusrhacos was a genus of giant flightless predatory birds that lived in Patagonia, containing the single species Phorusrhacos longissimus. Their closest living relatives are the much smaller seriema birds.
The terror birds lived in woodlands and grasslands. Among the bones found in the stratum of the Santa Cruz Formation (now considered as mainly of mid-Miocene age) was the piece of a mandible which Florentino Ameghino (1887) at first described as that of an edentate mammal.

In 1891, it was recognized to be a bird. Remains are known from several localities in the Santa Cruz Province, of Argentina.
Phorusrhacos stood around 2.5 meters tall and weighed approximately 130 kilograms.
It was nicknamed the "Terror Bird" for obvious reasons: it was one of the largest carnivorous birds to have ever existed, along with Titanis, Kelenken and Brontornis, and its rudimentary wings formed arm-like structures with claws shaped like a meat hook for tackling prey, which was then killed with the massive beak.

Smilodon
Smilodon often called a saber-toothed cat or wrongly a saber-toothed tiger, is an extinct genus of machairodonts.

Smilodon on stamp of France 2008, MiNr.: 4175, Scott: 3431

Peter Wilhelm Lund at Lagoa Santa cave on stamp Brazil 2010, MiNr.: 3786, Scott: 3131

This saber-toothed cat was endemic to North America and South America, living from near the beginning through the very end of the Pleistocene Epoch (2.5 mya -10,000 years ago). The nickname "saber-tooth" refers to the extreme length of their maxillary canines.
Despite the colloquial name "saber-toothed tiger", Smilodon is not a tiger; the latter belongs to subfamily Pantherinae, whereas Smilodon belongs to the subfamily Machairodontinae.

The genus Smilodon was described by the Danish naturalist and palaeontologist Peter Wilhelm Lund in 1841.
He found the fossils of Smilodon populator in caves near the small town of Lagoa Santa, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
A number of Smilodon species have been described, but today usually only three are recognized: Smilodon gracilis, Smilodon fatalis, Smilodon populator.

Products and associated philatelic items

Stamps from Sheets	Mini-Sheet	Monochrome print
Personalized FDC (La Poste didn't produce any official FDC)

First-Day-of-Issue Postmarks
Montbeliard (the birthplace of the further of Paleontology Baron Georges Cuvier)	Tarascon sur Ariege	Rinxent	Paris

Artwork	Signed FDC	Souvenir folder (PDF file)
Example of circulated covers

References

• Technical details and short description of the stamps:
  Colnect, Souvenir Booklet of La Poste (PDF file).
• Phorusrhacos: Wikipedia,
• Smilodon: Wikipedia,
• Megaloceros: Wikipedia,
• Wooly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius): Wikipedia,

Acknowledgements

• Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for reviewing the draft page .
• Many thanks to fellow collector Mr. Peter Brandhuber for sharing scans of several philatelic items, including the artwork of Christian Broutin from his collection.