ANN ARBOR—Fifteen mammoth creatures that once ruled the earth have been reduced to the size of a U.S. Postal Service 32-cent stamp. These “World of Dinosaurs” commemorative stamps will be available at a special philatelic station at the University of Michigan’s Exhibit Museum of Natural History on May 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A special cancellation has been designed to promote the Museum’s participation in the event.

The station will be located in the Museum’s second-floor Hall of Evolution, among the dinosaurs on display—the largest public display of dinosaurs in the state of Michigan. Individual dinosaur stamps will be available for purchase, as well as signed and unsigned stamp panes for serious stamp collectors.

The “World of Dinosaurs” commemorative stamps highlight 15 dinosaurs, including the huge, goose-necked Brachiosaurus and the recently discovered “can-opener nosed” Einiosaurus. The stamps are arranged on a full-color sheet split into two separate, horizontal panels: “A scene in Colorado, 150 million years ago” and “A scene in Montana, 75 million years ago.” Stamp illustrator and designer James Gurney of Rhinebeck, N.Y., worked with paleontologists and paleobotanists to capture on canvas the dinosaurs, flora, and fauna in settings believed to exist during those time periods.

E-mail: mjnesbit@umich.edu

Exhibit Museum of Natural Historymjnesbit@umich.edu