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| Issue Date | 23.03.2018 |
| ID | Michel: Scott: Stanley Gibbons: Yvert: UPU: Category: pF |
| Designer | stamp design: Matjaž Učakar photo: Matija Križnar from Natural History Museum of Slovenia in Ljubljana |
| Place of issue | Postojna |
| Stamps in set | 1 |
| Value | €0.78 - Mastodon, Anancus arvernensis |
| Size (width x height) | 42.60 x 29.82 mm |
| Layout | Sheet of 25 stamps |
| Products | FDC x1 |
| Paper | Tullis Russell Chancellor Litho PVA RMS GUM, 102 g/m2 |
| Perforation | 14 x 14 |
| Print Technique | Offset, 4 colours |
| Printed by | Agencija za komercijalnu djelatnost d.o.o., Zagreb, Croatia |
| Quantity | 45.000 |
| Issuing Authority | Posta Slovenije |
On March 23, 2018 Slovenian Post Authority issued the third stamp of their multi-year set of "Mammals fossils in Slovenia" shows fossil of Mastodon. The first stamp of the set issued in 2016 and shown fossil of cave bear.
The Mastodon – Ancient Giant of the Forests Two million years ago the landscape of Slovenia was very different from the way we see it today.
The soaring Alps in the
west and the forested landscape with patches of marsh and
endless plains in the east were an ideal environment for large
proboscideans and other mammals. One of the last European
mastodons – of the Anancus arvernensis species – would
periodically graze in forest clearings here. Anancus arvernensis
inhabited a large part of Europe, appearing in the late Miocene
and surviving until the start of the Pleistocene. Some other
species inhabited parts of Asia and Africa. The Anancus was
very similar to today's elephants, although with much longer,
straight tusks and different-shaped teeth.
Fossil remains have been found in Slovenia in the Šalek Valley,
near Slovenska Bistrica and in many parts of the Slovenske
Gorice, Čentibske Gorice and Goričko hill regions. Teeth are
the most frequently discovered remains. The best-known site
for such finds was discovered near the village of Škala, not
far from Velenje, where parts of a skeleton and tusks were
also unearthed. The new postage stamp depicts a mastodon
tooth discovered more than 70 years ago in a gravel pit close
to Sveti Andraž in the Slovenske Gorice hill region. This large
tooth (a molar) is from the lower jaw, as also indicated by its
strong root. The age of the tooth is not entirely clear, but it is
likely to have belonged to an animal that grazed this hill area,
covered with sparse woodland, in the late Pliocene. Changes
in the environment in the early Pleistocene, approximately two
million years ago, also contributed to the extinction of the last
mastodon to roam across the territory of present-day Slovenia.
Today the mastodon's tooth is on display at the Natural History
Museum of Slovenia. The stamp also incorporates a form of
augmented reality: use the HP Reveal app to scan the stamp on
a mobile device and launch an X-ray video of the cross section
of the mastodon's tooth.
Matija Križnar,
senior curator, palaeontologist
Natural History Museum of Slovenia [R1]
Products
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References:
[R1] Stamp Magzine of Slovenian Post, Bulletin Nr. 120 (page 9 with text on Slovenian, German and Englsh languages)
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Latest update 17.08.2018
Any feedback, comments or even complaints are welcome: [email protected] (you can email me on ENglish, DEutsch, or RUssian)