Slovenia 2018 "Mammal Fossils in Slovenia: Mastodon"

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Issue Date	23.03.2018
ID	Michel: 1297; Scott: 1263; Stanley Gibbons: ; Yvert et Tellier: 1091; 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
Emmision/Type	commemorative
Place of issue	Velenjes
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^th, 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 following text was written by Matija Kriznar from Department of Geology, Natural History Museum of Slovenia and was published on the website of Slovenia in 2016.

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 Salek Valley, near Slovenska Bistrica and in many parts of the Slovenske Gorice, Centibske Gorice and Goricko hill regions.
Teeth are the most frequently discovered remains. The best-known site for such finds was discovered near the village of Skala, 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 Andraz 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.


The bottom row of the stamp sheet, with labels under the stamps.

Products and associated philatelic items

FDC	First-Day-of-Issue Postmark	Stamp Sheet
Circulated FDC

References

• Technical details and short description: Posta Slovenije, Bulletin Nr. 120 (page 9 with text on Slovenian, German and Englsh languages), colnect.

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