India 1951 "Centeray of Geological Survey of India"
| Issue Date | 13.01.1951 |
| ID | Michel: 218 Scott: 232 Stanley Gibbons: 334Yvert: 31 UPU: N/A Category: pR |
| Author | |
| Stamps in set | 1 |
| Value | Anas 2- Stegodon ganesa |
| Size (width x height) | |
| Layout | |
| Products | FDC x1 |
| Paper | |
| Perforation | 13 |
| Print Technique |
Offset, purple and black colors |
| Printed by | watermarked |
| Quantity | |
| Issuing Authority | Indian Postag |
On commemoration of Indian
Geological Survey centenary on 13th January 1951 Indian
Postage released The stamp shows two individuals of Stegodon
ganesa,
the first ever reconstruction of a prehistoric animal on a stamp.It was
valued 2 Anas.Ana the olden Indian coin was in use before 1956. In 1956
Indian Government introduced Paise the hundredth fraction of Rupee the
currency.16 Anas are equal to One Rupee. The stamp is based on picture published by Henry Fairfield OSBORN in "Proboscidea. A monograph of the discovery, evolution, migration and extinction of the mastodonts and elephants of the world. Vol . 2, Stegodontoidea, Elephantoidea." , issued in New-York, USA in 1942. (1st edition of the book from 1936, 878 pages, can be downloaded from Open Library web siite)
Note:
On March 4, 2001 a
another stamp was issued by the Department
of Post, Government of India, to commemorate 150 anniversary
of
Indian
Geological Survey
This
time geological motive has been choosed. The four colour
stamp shows bauxite (aluminium ore), chalcopyrite (copper ore) and
psilomelane (manganese ore). The denomination of the stamp is 300 paise
(Rs.3.00)
Stegodon
ganesa
In 1928 century 3 metre long fossil tusk of an elephantine
mammal Stegedon ganes
a found in India by Dr.
Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia (October 25, 1883 - June
15, 1969) who pursued his personal research on stratigraphy, structure
and palaeontology of the Kashmir Himalaya with single-minded devotion.
Having a very keen eye for observation, he worked towards
identification of broad structural elements of the NW
Himalaya. The fossil tusk is now kept at the Museum of the Geology
Department of the Jammu University. The discovery of this skull, which
was found in association with fossil ganoid fish and pteridospermous
plants, led to the fixing of the age of an important geological rock
formation in the Kashmir Himalaya to the Permo-Carboniferous time (355
- 250 million years).
 |
Like elephants, stegodonts must have been good swimmers. Their fossils are frequently encountered on Asian islands, which even during periods of low sea-level (during the cold phases of the Pleistocene) were not connected by land bridges with the Asian continent . A general evolutionary trend in large mammals on islands is island dwarfing. The smallest dwarf species, Stegodon sondaari, known from 900,000 year old layers on the Indonesian island of Flores, had an estimated body weight of 300 kg (661 lb), smaller than a water buffalo. A medium to large sized stegodont, Stegodon florensis, with a body weight of about 850 kg (1,874 lb), appeared about 850,000 years ago, and then also evolved into a dwarf form, Stegodon florensis insularis. The latter was contemporaneous with the hominin discovered in 2003, Homo floresiensis, and disappeared about 12,000 years ago.Stegodon tetrabelodon syrticus was a spectacular late Miocene species with four tusks described from a partial cranium and jaws found in North Africa
| FDC with commemorative and regular postmark | |
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Note: This page is incomplete, some info is missing. In case you have the any additional information please email to me. Acknowledgement :
Many thanks to fellow stamp collector Kasinath Ra from India, for his help to find some additional information about these stamps
References: Wikipedia Vigyan Prasar Science Portal 49, Vol. India, of Socienty Paleontological The Journal |
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Last update 03.11.2017
Any feedback, comments or even complaints are welcome: [email protected] (you can email me on ENglish, DEutsch, or RUssian)