Poland 1966 : Prehistoric animals // Set of 9 stamps

Poland 1966 : Prehistoric animals // Set of 9 stamps

• Issue Date 05.03.1966
• ID Michel: 1655-1663 Scott: .1395-1403 Stanley Gibbons: 1639-1647; Yvert: 1506-1514  UPU: N/A Category: pR
• Author Andrew Heindrich
• Stamps in set 9
• Size (width x height) 39,5 X 51 mm / 51 x 39,5 mm
• Paper coated paper
• Perforation 11x11,5
• Print Technique Offset
• Issuing Authority Poczta Polska

Value / Description

1. 20 gr    Dinichthys:  a Devonian fish that lived in salt seas 380 million years ago.  A predator and quite large: 1 meter head and trunk about 5 feet long. Remains of this fish were found in the Devonian sediments in Poland. 
2. 30 gr    Eusthenopteron: a Devonian fish of group Crossopterygia that lived in shallow fresh waters 370 years ago, and probably was the ancestor of first amphibians.  A characteristic feature of this fish are strong, fleshy fins reinforced with bone skeleton.
3. 40 gr    Ichthyostega: a primitive amphibian still retaining some features of fish. It lived about 355 million years ago in Upper Devonian period.
4. 50 gr    Mastodonsaurus: the biggest amphibian of the Triassic period (about 200 million years ago) of group Steoocephatia, measuring about 3 meters in length.   It's probably the first reptile that lived on land. Its remains were found in Central Europe: Germany and Czechia.
5. 60 gr    Cynognathus: a Triassic reptile that lived about 220 million years ago. The animal was a predator and belongs to group of so-called mammal-like reptiles (Theromorpha). Its body was up to 2 meters long. Cynognathusa remains were found in the Karroo formation in South Africa.
6. 2.50 zl  Archaeopteryx: the first ancestor of birds in Upper Jurassic (about 140 million years ago). Its remains found at  lithographic limestone by Solenhofen (Bavaria - Germany). It resembled birds in having wings and feathers, while its teeth, tail and skull showed it was still a reptile It was not actively flying as a bird, but climbed on a tree by using sharp claws of the forepaws (wings). Has a size more or less equal to today's pigeon and was an predator who ate insects, worms, fruits and seeds. 
7. 3.40 zl  Broutotherium: a huge Perissodactyla  of Titanotheridae group lived about 30 million years ago. It combined features of an elephant (pillar-like  legs) and of a rhinoceros (body structure).  Inhabited the steppes of eastern North America and Asia (Mongolia). His remains were known and are also in Europe.  
8. 6.50 zl  Machairodus: one of the representatives of feline family living in the Tertiary, about 10 million years ago.  It lived in Europe, Asia and northern Africa during the Miocene and Pliocene periods. His kinsman is American Smilodon.  Machairodus was extinct early in the ice age, and its remains were found in Poland.
9. 5.60 zl  Mammuthuss: one of the commonest representatives of the fauna of glacial period (Pleistocene - about 100-50 thousand years ago).  Lived in the northern areas of Europe, Asia and North America. Its remains are numerous and Poland. Its skeletons are on show in all major museums in the world, including at the Museum of the Polish Geological Institute in Warsaw.  Its contemporary cave man hunted it, and drew its pictures on the walls of the caves. 

In March 1966 the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication  issued a multicolored set of nine stamps of prehistoric animals. These stamps show major stages of vertebrate animal evolution, starting with the  Devonian fish Dinichthys, through first, primitive amphibian till well recognized Mammuthuss. This set is issued just one year after  the first Polish stamps depicting dinosaurs and two years before Polish Paleontologists started their discoveries in the Gobi desert together with their Mongolian colleagues. During several Polish-Mongolian expeditions many dinosaurs fossils were found.

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