Going Ape

Gorilla, designed by Belgian graphic artist Mark Fernand Severin (1906-1987), printed by photogravure, and issued by Rwanda on March 20, 1978, Scott No. 858.

- nethryk

This set was issued late last year and contains an Ape.



Steve

Black colobus monkey (Colobus satanas), designed by Justin Kenang, printed by lithography (Cartor), and issued by Cameroun on July 20, 1982 as one of a set of endangered species stamps, Scott No. 718.

- nethryk

Baby chimps, printed by lithography (E.A. Wright Bank Note Co., Philadelphia), and issued by Liberia on December 20, 1966, Scott No. 454.

- nethryk

Gorillas, designed by Czech painter and graphic artist Radomir Kolár (1924-1993), combined engraved by Ladislav Jirka and photogravure, and issued by Czechoslovakia on September 28, 1981 as one of a set of three stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Prague Zoo, Scott No. 2380.

- nethryk

Mantled guereza (Colobus guereza), designed by Belgian graphic artist Mark Fernand Severin (1906-1987), printed by photogravure, and issued by Rwanda on March 20, 1978, Scott No. 859, plus a photo of one of these monkeys.

- nethryk

Labuan 1900 Scott 97 4c carmine & black "Orangutan"

Overprinted, but in different colors, on stamp designs of North Borneo, Labuan stamps of the era are attractive indeed for the pictorial or topical collector.

Rather than boring Victoria or Edward VII images, the North Borneo Company, who administered Labuan, gave us these delightful designs between 1894- 1904.

Several African countries have put out stamps with primates in the last two years. Mainly to get revenue out of collectors like me but that's OK if the illustrations are as good as most of them show. They are also official issues with some having rather nice FDCs as well. Here are some, starting with apes, from Burundi, 2012:





Rather impressive, don't you think?

Here are two more primate issues, these from Uganda:

Since I am enjoying looking at those new issues, here are some more. First, again in keeping with the topic, some gorillas:





These are Western lowland gorillas, not the mountain gorillas shown on the Burundi issues. There are two species of gorilla, each with two subspecies. The other subspecies of the Western lowland gorilla (the latter is the animal seen in zoos) is the Cross River gorilla from Nigeria which is highly endangered and illustrated on an issue of the WWF:




The subspecies of of eastern gorillas are the well-known mountain gorilla and the Eastern lowland gorilla or Grauer's gorilla, which is very similar to the mountain gorilla and illustrated on an issue of the Democratic Republic of Congo, also a WWF issue:




Now to the other end of the primate size scale and evolutionary history, two new issues from Senegal, with Senegal bushbabies (galagos):






There are other issue which I'll post in the next few days, Keep those pictures coming....

One more instalment of new monkeys.... these are from Mali, one of them a round stamp:






And if you are interested in different shapes in perforation, how about these from Gabon:






And these are like the above from Uganda in design but from Guine-Bissau:






Still a lot of apes in modern issues but more and more of the rarer species as well, and even some subspecies, as above for the gorillas - I'll post some other examples in the next few days. BTW, if ou are interested in collecting a particular group of mammals and want realy up to date data on species, subspecies and other data (biology, status in the Red Book, distributionetc) have alook at the new series "Handbook of the Mammals of the World" published by Lynx (http://www.lynxeds.com/catalog/hmw). Not cheap but worth the price. Already piblished are the volumes on carnivores, ungluates and primates, volume on whales coming up (and cheaper if you pre-order). I have the primate volume and am busy updating my personal catalog. Happy hunting!

cobie - Nice ones! Please keep 'em coming. And thanks for the information about the Lynx mammals handbook.

Here is an image of a stamp depicting a western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), designed by Louis-Marie Lemana, printed by lithography (Cartor), and issued by Cameroun on Septemebr 22, 1983 as one of three stamps in an endangered animals set, Scott No. 747.

- nethryk

The potto (Perodicticus potto) is a strepsirrhine primate which inhabits the canopy of rain forests in tropical Africa. Here is an image of a stamp depicting a potto, printed by photogravure, and issued for use in Rio Muni on November 23, 1967 as one of a set of three indigenous animals stamps for Stamp Day, Scott No. 68.

- nethryk

Male mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), semi-postal (charity) stamp printed by photogravure, and issued for use in Rio Muni on June 21, 1961 to benefit the children's welfare fund, Scott No. B9. It's too bad this stamp is monochrome, as the mandrill is the most colorful primate of them all!

- nethryk

Year of the (Samurai!) Monkey, printed by photogravure, and issued by Japan on November 14, 2003, Scott No. 2872.

- nethryk

About time for some new issues. The 2013 United Nations Endangered Animals were all nocturnal species and include five rare primate species:







Above are the New York issues, showing the mongoose lemur and the aye-aye (as well as the Malaysian tapir and the flat-headed cat). The artist is Portuguese FjS Correia.





Next, the Geneva issue, with the potto and Philippine tarsier (also showing a pangolin and Livingstone's fruitbat). The illustrations are by Itlain artist, Sara Menon.





Finally, the Vienna issue, with the greater slow loris (also an eagle owl, spiny ant-eater and civet species). These are by Canadian Emily Damstra.

The issues are offset lithography, by Jh. Enschede Security Printers in the Netherlands. Like most UN Endangered Species issues, most have sold out at the UN Postal Agency, and so far, I have seen few for sale on eBay or Delcampe. Even though I am a "monkey person", it is good to see some other rare species highlighted that few people may have heard about.

The 2014 issue (due October) will be marine mammals, and sea monkeys will not count, I think! Now that I am on a roll here, let me have alook for some other monkeys....

Cobie