Issue date: 19 Oct, 2012
Spain and Romania issue a joint series dedicated to a common animal species endemic of their own geographic areas. The stamps depict the Spanish Ibex and the Red Deer of the Carpathians.
The Spanish Ibex or Capra Pyrenaica is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula. It lives in forests and shrubs of high and medium height across the mountains of Sierra Nevada, Gredos, Cazorla, Guadarrama, Sierra de Cuenca and in some areas of Catalonia in altitudes ranging from 500 to 2,500 meters. The male has large, unbranched horns that can be three times bigger than the females’ and curve back over their heads. Males can also double the females’ weight and have a goatee under the jaw. Their coat is generally shades of brown and grey in the back and white at the underbelly. They have the smell and hearing senses well developed and their hooves can climb on rocks and jump almost vertical walls. They group in separate herds of males or females and offspring. Although it is a sedentary species it can make long trips during the winter season for improved shelter. During the rut, between November and January, the males fight aggressively rising on their hind legs and clashing their horns to win their right to mate with the females.
In the late 19th century it became an endangered species and in 1905 King Alfonso XIII founded the Royal Hunting Lodge of the Sierra de Gredos to limit hunting in the area. In 1950 reserve zones were created at the risk of extinction.
The Carpathian Red Deer or Cervus elaphus lives in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The male features powerful well shaped antlers which fall off every year in February or March as it rubs them off against the trees. It takes five months for a set of antlers to grow in time for the bellow. An adult deer has a wide head with a big dewlap underneath its chin, a wide and short neck, large chest and stomach. Red deer in general have a stout body structure with a straight back. The body colour is ginger with a grayish hue on the chest, shoulder blades, and thighs. Its underbelly is brownish-black. Females live in herds whilst males are solitary or move around in groups of no more than five. During mating season the males don’t feed and spend the day fighting with other males resulting in the death by hunger and exhaustion of some individuals.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.