This year's Stamp Collecting Month embraces the theme of Australian Megafauna - an extraordinary range of giant creatures that roamed the Australian continent many thousands and even millions of years ago and became extinct between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago (with the exception of the Tasmanian Tiger). Many of these animals, including the marsupial lion and the large kangaroo, briefly co-existed with humans.
The six Mega creatures featured on the stamps are:
Genyornis newtoni, 55c, a large bird reminiscent of emus and cassowaries but in fact more closely related to ducks, geese and swans. Diprotodon optatumm, 55c, a giant wombat with two prominent projecting teeth. Thylacoleo carnifex, 55c, harking from possum ancestry but a more destructive and predatory version. Thylacinus cyanocephalus, 55c, or more commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger. Procoptodon goliah, $1.10, probably the largest of all kangaroos and weighing upwards of 200kg. Megalania prisca, $1.10, a massive lizard species likened to the current-day Komodo Dragon.
