| Issue Date | 05.12.2000 |
| ID | Michel: 1576-1578 Scott: 1421-1423 Stanley Gibbons: 1501-1503 Yvert: 1507-1509 UPU: Category: pR |
| Author | Designer: Tuvia. Kurz |
| Stamps in set | 3 |
| Value | NIS 2.20 x 3 |
| Size (width x height) | 30.8 x 30.8 mm |
| Layout | MS of 9 stamps and 3 tabs |
| Products | FDC x2 MS x1 Booklet x1 |
| Paper | |
| Perforation | |
| Print Technique |
Offset, multi-color |
| Printed by | Government Printers |
| Quantity | |
| Issuing Authority | Israel Post |
The dinosaurs (terrible lizards) constitute two different groups of extinct reptiles, derived from a common ancestor and together with other groups like crocodiles, birds and other extinct reptiles, share unique anatomical features.
The dinosaurs appeared on earth during the Triassic period, 235 million years ago and continued to exist to the end of the Mezosoic (end of the Cretaceus ) era, when all of them, 65 million years ago, became extinct together with many other groups of organisms. The common explanation of this mass extinction is probably due to a massive impact of an asteroid with the face of the earth, the consequence of which was a worldwide catastrophe to life.
During most of their existence on earth (around 170 million years) the dinosaurs dominated most of the continental habitats, were wide spread all over the continents and fed on a broad spectrum of diets (from feeding on leaves to engaging a ferocious predatory behavior).Some of them became highly socialized, laid eggs in bird-like nests ad protected their youngsters. Some others achieved huge dimensions of the body-size.
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Dinosaur footprints discovered in Beit Zayit are on display at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
In the settlements
of Beit
Zait near
Jerusalem,footprints
of some dinosaurs were found, which belong to a group of
agile animals, running on their hind limbs, which their forelimbs were
relatively very small, never used for locomotion, but rather helped
then to grasp food or prey. The
late Prof. M. Avnimelech from the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem identified those
footprints as belonging to the genusStruthiomymus
(=ostrich-like). Indeed,
the reconstruction of the animal (exhibited in the backyard of the
department of Geology in
the Hebrew University) shows a close artificial similarity
with ostriches and their capability for a high-speed locomotion.Yet,
contrary with all other birds,
its body was covered with horny scales, showed no teeth in its jaws,
which was covered with a horny sharp sheath and fed on leaves. The Beit
Zait dinosaur was
relatively small (150 kg, 4 meters long).
Related species of the same age were described from North America and Mongolia. Until now, no dinosaur bones were found in Israel, but the footprints of Beit Zait show that a band of this species ran about the shoreline of the old Tethys ocean which, at that time, covered the coasts of the Middle East.
Prof. Eitan Tsrenov, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
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References:
MapLandia
Israel Philatelic Federation
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Latest update 09.11.2017
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