Philatax
Philat-tax (pronounced: "flat-tax") combines Philat-ely (the study of postage stamps and stamp history) and Tax-onomy (the science of classification of living and extinct organisms).
Philately | Taxonomy |
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It is estimated that there are around 500,000 different postage stamps that have been issued world-wide by approximately 700 different countries. Some countries no longer exist (Czechoslovakia, East Germany) , some countries have changed their names (Ceylon/Sri Lanka, Burma/Myamar). Often countries have issued stamps commemorating a species more than once, for example when they are commemorating their national animal (United States: the eagle), plant (Canada: the maple tree) or flower (France: the iris). To display the connection (if one even exists) between a unique biological species and an issued postage stamp is not practical. Nevertheless, an attempt has been made on this website to display stamps issued by countries that commemorate species in three of the seven biological kingdoms (animalia, plantae and fungi). For those species that have not been recognized by any country, I've created a fictional country, "Philatia," to commemorate them. | The study of taxonomy classifies all biological life and places each unique species into a biological kingdom. A widely accepted model* of all living things is comprised of seven different kingdoms. This model, which is being used on this website, is considered widely accepted, although new discoveries, new DNA analysis, new groupings and evidence are continually changing the overall model.
Total: over 2 million unique classified biological species. |
It's not difficult to see that the days of people sending letters with a postage stamp stuck on the envelope, via the postal system, a.k.a. "snail mail'" are in decline. If this does occur, then the hobby of philately may be short-lived. But rather than dwell on what might or might-not happen, I'm keeping philately alive. On this site are displayed individual stamps, and sets of stamps, that I think are beautiful. Click either the stamp or the species to see interesting connections and facts as well as how philately and taxonomy are related.