October 3, 2005
Ottawa -- On October 20, 2005, Canada Post will issue two new $1 definitive stamps featuring the Atlantic walrus and white-tailed deer. These new postage stamps showcase the wilder side of Canada, reminding us that there is more to our country than rolling wheat fields and mountains that touch the sky.
The Atlantic Walrus - There is a larger-than-life beauty to the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus). With large bodies, small heads, long tusks and whiskers, walruses have thick skin which is folded and creased. They are greyish in colour with pink on the abdomen and in the folds.
This hefty semi-aquatic mammal inhabits the Eastern and High Arctic, including Baffin Bay through Lancaster Sound, Foxe Basin and Hudson Strait to northwest Hudson Bay. They are sometimes referred to as "tooth walking sea horses". The name Odobenus, from odous (Greek for "tooth") and baino (Greek for "walk"), results from observations of walruses using their tusks to pull themselves out of the water. Rosmarus originates in the Swedish word for walrus.
Environment Canada lists the Atlantic walrus as a species at risk: perhaps 20,000 are alive today with the largest herd in Canada found at Foxe Basin. While this number may seem imposing, there were hundreds of thousands prior to the European discovery of North America. Having survived commercial hunters and natural enemies, the Atlantic walrus population is now threatened by environmental disturbances, such as boat and low-flying airplane noise, global warming affecting habitat and food supplies and pollution.
The white-tailed deer -- The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is one of five species of deer found in Canada. It can be found from Labrador to the eastern part of British Columbia and north into the Peace River area of Alberta.
The animal gets its name from its white tail. The belly, gorge, and small band around the nose are also white. When this deer is startled, it raises its white tail upward as a flag and quickly runs away. White-tails are herbivores, they eat a large variety of plants, young leaves, stems, shoots, mushrooms, apples, and are considered an agricultural nuisance as they can cause crop damage feeding in farmers' fields.
Parable, in Ottawa, produced the stamp design. This is their first assignment for Canada Post. The walrus and white-tailed deer images that grace Canada Post's new definitive stamps are from steel engravings by Canadian Bank Note artist Jorge Peral. Mr. Peral's association with Canada Post began in 1998 with the $1 Loon and $8 Grizzly Bear, continued with the 1999 Millennium Dove of Peace and the 2003 $5 Moose.
Peral's engraving of the walrus was inspired by Pierre Leduc's drawing for one of the $5 Canadian coins. His deer engraving was motivated by Xerxes Irani's drawing for the other $5 coin. These new definitive stamps will be available at post offices across the country on October 20, 2005. They will be issued in full panes of 16, and souvenir sheets of 4, and will also be available as individual Canada Post-Royal Canadian Mint stamp and coin sets.
Canadian Bank Note printed a first run of 4 million stamps and 500,000 souvenir sheets, and will reprint more as required. The stamps were printed using 6 special colour lithography plus steel engraving in 3 colours and PVA Gum, on Tullis Russell Coatings paper with 13+ perforations. Each stamp measures 48 mm x 40 mm, and will be sold in a pane of 16 stamps and a souvenir sheet of 4 stamps. The Official First Day Cover will read Hall Beach, Nunavut.
Additional information about Canadian stamps can be found in the Newsroom section of Canada Post's website, and downloadable high-resolution photos of these new stamps are in the Newsroom's Photo Centre. Stamps and Official First Day covers will be available at participating post offices, can be ordered online by following the links at Canada Post's website www.canadapost.ca, or by mail order from the National Philatelic Centre. From Canada and the USA call toll-free: 1-800-565-4362 and from other countries call: (902) 863-6550.
For further information, contact:
Cindy Daoust
Ottawa
(613) 734-4258
cindy.daoust@canadapost.ca
