El Salvador 1979 "Prehistoric Fauna from El Salvador"
| Issue Date | 07.09.1979 |
| ID | Michel: 1289-1294 Scott: 911-913, C458-C460. Stanley Gibbons: 1611-1616. Yvert: 859-861, air mail 434-436 UPU: N/A Category: pR |
| Designer | |
| Stamps in set | 6 |
| Value | c10 - Mastodon (Gomphotherium) c15 - Mammuthus columbi c20 - Smilodon sp. c25 - Eremotherium carolinensis c30 - Toxodon platensis $2.0 - Borophagus cynoides |
| Size (width x height) | |
| Layout | |
| Products | FDC x 1 |
| Paper | |
| Perforation | 14x14.5 |
| Print Technique | Offset lithography |
| Printed by | |
| Quantity | |
| Issuing Authority |
On September 7th, 1979 the Post of El Salvador issued a set of 6 stamps
dedicated to prehistoric mammals that lived on the territory of the country during Cenozoic Era.
The issue's title is "Prehistoric Fauna from El Salvador".
Stamp represent new (in 1979) exposition of Prehistoric life in Prehistoric animals museum of
San Salvador.
El Salvador does not have dinosaur fossils because Central
America appeared when dinosaurs were died out.
During Mesozoic era the most part of Central America was marine bottom and was located where
now is Mexico; for this reason the oldest life evidences are corals, algas, crabs, etc.
The first fossil's excavation in El Salvador were made by scientists David J. Guzman and Jorge Larde. In their papers, they make references to some sites where they found fossils. In 1942, a paleontologist who studied Salvadorean prehistoric mammals, Dr. R. A. Stirton discovered seven extint mammals that lived here.
The Natural History Museum of El Salvador had done an effort in order to catalogue the collection of prehistoric fauna and flora. During 70's, a paleontologist named Steve Perrigo arrived under initiative of Servicio de Parques Nacionales and Natural History Museum. He did excavation in many places and confirm the variaty of Pleistocene Central American fauna (last period of Cenozoic era). In that period the North and South of this continent were connected by Central America and intercontinental migration of animals was possible.
Mastodon (Gomphotherium) ("Welded Beast") is an extinct genus of proboscid which evolved in the Early Miocene of North America from 13.6503.6 Ma, living about 10 million years.
The genus emigrated into Asia, Europe and Africa after a drop in sea level (probably during the
Tortonian epoch) allowed them to cross over. It survived into the
Pliocene, and its remains have been found in several locations around
the world, include eastern country zone of El
Salvador Gomphotherium
stood around 3 metres
(9.8 ft) high, and bore a strong resemblance to a modern
elephant. However, it
had four tusks; two on the upper jaw and two on the elongated lower
jaw. The lower tusks are parallel and shaped like a shovel and were
probably used for digging up food from mud. Unlike modern elephants,
the upper tusks were covered by a layer of enamel. Compared to
elephants, the skull was more elongated and low, indicating that the
animal had a short trunk, rather like a tapir's. These animals probably
lived in swamps or near lakes, using their tusks to dig or scrape up
aquatic vegetation. In comparison to earlier proboscids, Gomphotherium
had far fewer molars; the remaining ones had high ridges to expand
their grinding surface. Gomphotherium inhabited dry wooded regions near
lakes.
Smilodon often called a
saber-toothed cat or incorrectly a saber-toothed tiger, is an extinct
genus of machairodonts. 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). Fossils of Columbian
mammoth found in eastern country zone of El Salvador. A fully-grown Smilodon weighed
approximately 55 to 470 kg , depending on species. It had a short tail,
powerful legs, muscular neck and long canines. Smilodon was more
robustly built than any modern cat, comparable to a bear. The lumbar
region of the back was proportionally short, and the lower limbs were
shortened relative to the upper limbs in comparison with modern
pantherine cats, suggesting that Smilodon was not built for speed.
Toxodon is an extinct mammal of the
late Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs about 2.6 million to 16,500 years
ago. It was indigenous to South America, and
was probably the most common large-hoofed mammal in South America at the time of its
existence. Charles Darwin was one of the first
to collect Toxodon fossils, after paying 18 pence for a T. platensis
skull from a farmer in Uruguay. In The Voyage of the Beagle Darwin
wrote "November 26th - I set out on my return in a direct line for
Monte Video. Having heard of some giant's bones at a neighbouring
farmhouse on the Sarandis, a small stream entering the Rio Negro, I
rode there accompanied by my host, and purchased for the value of
eighteen pence the head of an animal equalling in size that of the
hippopotamus. Mr Owen in a paper read before the Geological Society,
has called this very extraordinary animal, Toxodon, from the curvature
of its teeth." Since Darwin discovered that the fossils of similar
mammals of South America were different than those in Europe, he
invoked many debates about the evolution and natural selection of
animals. Toxodon was about 2.7
metres in body length, and about 1.5 metres high at
the shoulder and resembled a heavy rhinoceros, with a short and vaguely
hippopotamus-like head. Because of the position of its nasal openings,
it is believed that Toxodon had a well-developed snout. It had a
massive skeleton, which suggests that it supported a large muscular
body. It had short stout legs with three functional toes, with most of
the body weight being borne by the central toe.
The Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus
columbi) is an extinct species of elephant of the Quaternary period
that appeared in North America (in the present
United States and to as
far south as Nicaragua and Honduras) during the late Pleistocene. The
Columbian mammoth was one of the last members of the American megafauna
to go extinct, with the date of disappearance generally set at
approximately 12,500 years ago.
The Columbian mammoth was one of the largest of the mammoth species and
also one of the largest elephants to have ever lived, measuring 4
metres (13 ft) tall and weighing up to 10 metric tons (11 short tons).
It was 10.7 feet (3.3 m) long at the shoulder, and had a head that
accounted for 12 to 25 percent of its body weight. It had impressive,
spiralled tusks which typically extended to 6.5 feet (2.0 m). Fossils of Columbian
mammoth found in eastern country zone of El Salvador It was a herbivore, with a diet
consisting of varied plant life ranging from grasses to conifers. It is
also theorized that the Columbian mammoth ate the giant fruits of North
America such as the Osage-orange, Kentucky coffee and honey locust as
there was no other large herbivore in North America then that could
ingest these fruits.
Eremotherium carolinensis (Panamerican Ground Sloth) is an extinct genus of actively mobile ground sloth of the family
Megatheriidae, endemic to North America and South America during the Pleistocene epoch.
It lived from 1.8 mya11,000 years ago existing (as a genus) for approximately 4.889 million years.
Fossils have been uncovered at many coutries include El Salvador, at many county zones.
El Salvador has a 7.6 m. fossil that is the tallest of Central American area.
Borophagus ("gluttonous eater") is an extinct genus of
the subfamily Borophaginae, a group of canids endemic to
North America
from the early Miocene epoch through the Zanclean stage of the Pliocene
epoch 23.33.6 Mya. Borophagus existed for approximately 19.7 million
years.Borophagus, like other borophagines, are loosely known
as "bone-crushing" or "hyena-like" dogs. Though not the most massive
borophagine by size or weight, it had a more highly-evolved capacity to
crunch bone than earlier, larger genera such as Epicyon, which seems to
be an evolutionary trend of the group (Turner, 2004). During the
Pliocene epoch, Borophagus began being displaced by Canis genera such
as Canis edwardii and later by Canis dirus.
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Last update 21.10.2017
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