endangered species

UNV511-14 – Endangered Species
Offices in Vienna

In 2012, the United Nations Postal Administration issued its 20th set of Endangered Species stamps.  Since the series began in 1993, the goal has been to raise awareness of the need to protect endangered species around the globe.

Vienna’s stamps show the Snow leopard, Bornean peacock-pheasant, Masked owl, and Axolotl.  The axolotl is likely named after the Aztec god Xolotl, the god of transformations and death.  This is an interesting choice, as axolotls are neotenes, meaning they do not go through a metamorphosis at sexual maturity, as they lack the thyroid hormone.  Scientists generally consider this a backward step in evolution, suggesting the axolotl is descended from land salamanders that did not receive enough iodine to develop a thyroid.