United Kingdom 2006 "Ice Age Animals"

Issue Date	21.03.2006
ID	Michel: 2391-2395; Scott: 2359-2363; Stanley Gibbons: 2615-2619; Yvert: ; Category: pF
Design	Howard Brown with illustrations by Andrew Davidson
Stamps in set	5
Value	1st class - sabre tooth cat (Homotherium latidens) 42p - giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus) 47p - woolly rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis) 69p - woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) 1.12 - cave bear (Ursus spelaus)
Size (width x height)	37x35mm
Layout	Sheets of 25 and 50 stamps
Products	FDC x 1, PP x1
Paper
Perforation	14x14.5
Print Technique	lithography
Printed by	Joh Enschede Security Printer
Quantity
Issuing Authority	Royal Mail of Great Britain

On March 23^rd, 1990, the Royal Mail issued the stamps set featuring Ice Age animals, who roamed the territory of today Great Britain 2 million years ago, and whose fossils found across the country, including a woolly rhino fossil under London's Battersea Power Station and a woolly mammoth under The Strand in London.

The Royal Mail worked with the Natural History Museum in London to produce the stamps and the beautifully detailed engravings are the work of Andrew Davisdson. Andy Currant, Ice Age Mammals expert at the Natural History Museum, said we're discovering new evidence about the Ice Age all the time, and it's fantastic that the stamps show the public some of the animals that roamed these shores. At the Natural History Museum we have the best collection of Ice Age mammal fossils in the UK and, working with experts from other institutions, we're using our resources to try to put together this piece of unwritten history.
The creatures were reproduced into spectacular ice sculptures for the launch of the stamp set at the Natural History Museum. Royal Mail's Head of Special Stamps, Julietta Edgar, said: I'm delighted that millions of people will get the chance to see some of these amazing animals once again, but this time from the safety of a stamp!

The following prehistoric animals were depicted on the stamps

1st class -Sabre tooth cat (Homotherium latidens)

Sabre tooth cat on stamp of UK 2006 MiNr.: ; Scott: .

There were many different species of sabre-tooth cat around the world; all are now extinct. The last European species, Homotherium, died out about 400,000 years ago. Although overall about the size of a lion, it had a long neck and relatively long front legs, which together with muscular forequarters made the animal look more like a hyena than a cat. It pursued prey such as horses and young mammoths, and used the long canine teeth - strongly flattened and quite fragile - to press into captured prey rather than to capture or stab at them.

42p - Giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus)

Giant deer on stamp of UK 2006

Giant deer had the largest antlers of any known deer, living or extinct. They grew in size and complexity through the animal's youth, typically reaching a span of 2.5-3.5 metres in large stags. Shed each year in the spring, they were grown through the summer, and used in fighting during late autumn and winter. These huge deer reached around 1.8 m height at the shoulder and weighed around 500 kg. The giant deer lived in small herds and was not an abundant species, perhaps because growing the huge antlers restricted it to areas of mineral-rich vegetation. The last ones died out only 7,000 years ago in western Siberia.

47p - Woolly rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis)

Woolly rhino on stamp of UK 2006 MiNr.: ; Scott: .

DNA extracted from frozen carcasses has shown that the woolly rhino was most closely related to the living Sumatran rhinoceros. It had a body weight of about 2 tons, a massive shoulder with a height of about 1.8 metres, and a thick mane. The extraordinary front horn was typically 1.2m long, and very flattened. Close examination reveals that the front edge had a 'keel', suggesting active side-to-side movements of the head, perhaps for snow-clearing. Like living rhinos, the woolly rhino was probably solitary or lived in small groups.

69p - Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)

Woolly mammoth on stamp of UK 2006

Contrary to popular belief, the woolly mammoth was no larger than living elephants, but with a domed head, sloping back, thick, hairy coat and enormous spirally curved tusks. It also had tiny ears and a very short tail - probably to minimise heat loss or frostbite. Stomach remains preserved in some Siberian carcasses show that the diet was 90% grass, plus mosses, ferns, and some shrub browse. Living in an open habitat, it is likely that herds often accumulated into hundreds or even thousands of animals, but within this smaller family structures, as in living elephants, still remained.

1.12 - Cave bear (Ursus spelaus)

Cave bear on stamp of UK 2006 MiNr.: ; Scott: .

Fossils of this extinct species have been found only in the middle and southern latitudes of the European continent. A bear of very large size - larger than the American grizzly - it was also marked out by a very pronounced 'step' shape of the forehead. Some caves in central and eastern Europe have yielded vast quantities of remains - up to 30,000 individuals in one Austrian cave alone. While most species of the bear family are omnivorous, recent biochemical analyses of fossil bones confirm that the cave bear was an exclusive vegetarian.

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Products and associated philatelic items

FDC		Presentation Pack
The First Day Cover Envelope was designed by Jason Godfrey and printed by Smurfit Print UK and features a prehistoric skeleton. The filler card was also designed by Jason Godfrey and written by paleobiologist Dr Adrian Lister and is printed by Fulmar Colour Printing Company Ltd.
Post Cards	Gutter pair	Example of Circulated Cover

Special postmarks announced for the Day of Issue. Official post marks.

Philatelic Bureau Official Postmark (Giant deer skeleton)	Official Freezywater, Enfield Postmark (Mammoth skeleton)	Official non-pictorial Freezywater postmark

Another postmarks also used on FDCs

Ice Age Animals, Piltdown, Uckfield	Ice Age Mammals, Bearsted, Maidstone	Ice Age Mammals, London	Bletchley Park Post Office, Milton Keynes	Ice Age Mammals, Coldbath Road, Birmingham
Ice Age Mammals, Pakefield, Lowestoft [Suffolk]	Ice Age Mammals, Clapaham, Lancaster	Ice Age Mammals, Alrewas, Burton-on-Trent [Staffordhire]	Ice Age Mammals, Ilford [Essex]	Ice Age Mammals, Torquay [Devon]
Save the Rhino, London SE1	Cromwell Road, London SW7	The Iceland & The Great Stone, Northfield, Birmingham

References

Norvic Philatelics, Natural History Museum, Royal Mail of Great Britain, Wikipedia.