Going Ape

This came yesterday.

On January 23, 1968 Hong Kong issued this set of two "Year of the Monkey" stamps (SG #s 245-6) for Chinese New Year.

This June 4, 1969 10 pf value (Mi #338) of Berlin is one of a block of 4 se-tenant stamps from a souvenir sheet commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Berlin Zoo. The stamp's artwork depicts three orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus).

Six weeks into COVID lockdown, and still not posted a new ape!

Here goes:






From the Central African Republic, showing the endangered Coquerel's sifaka, a lemur from Madagascar, and on the stamp, the almost critically endangered crested macaque from Sulawesi.

The 4stamp MS shows Sykes monkey, as yet of Least concern;the Vulnerable East Javan langur;the mandrill, also Vulnerable; and the critically endangered Black and white lemur.

Here is Federal Republic of Germany's May 21, 1971 30pf stamp (Mi #678) showing a stylized, panoramic view of Nuremberg. The August 25, 1971 continuous/roller cancel publicizes the Nuremberg Zoo and features the face of a primate.

Gibraltar
EUROPA – Endangered National Wildlife
February 5, 2021
The stamp set shows Barbary Macaques, the only wild monkey population found in Europe.

Indonesia
Endangered Animals - The Orangutan
March 6, 1989
The minisheet contain two stamps depicting the Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), great apes native to the rainforests of parts of Borneo and Sumatra.

Malaysia
Fauna Definitive Issue
1979 - 1985
Set of eight, one stamp depicts the Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).

Trinidad and Tobago
Endangered Wild Animals
February 6, 2001
Set of ten, two stamps depict Red Howler Monkey and Weeping Capuchin Monkey.

Poland
Zoo Animals
August 21, 1972
Set of nine, two stamps depict Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and Lar Gibbon (Hylobates lar).

Orangutan, stamp of North Borneo under Japanese occupation, 1944:
Overprint: "Imperial Japanese Post, North Borneo"

Mountain Gorilla, designed by the Belgian artist Jean Van Noten and issued by Rwanda on September 7, 1970:

Today, I added to my primate collection an original drawing of a Gorilla stamp made on hard cardboard and signed by Jean Van Noten, designer of the set. This specific design was not adopted:

Bay-thighed Diana Monkey (Cercopithecus ignita), engraved by Harold Osborn (central figure)and by Warrell Hauck (red frame), printed by the American Bank Note Company, and issued by Liberia in 1942:

Color proof of the monkey on hard paper:

The figure of the Diana Monkey in the above stamp is taken from a design by the Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (1858 – 1927) made in 1906:

One of the oldest stamp in my monkey stamp collection, my main thematic collection, is this stamp from Liberia issued in 1906 shows Chimpanzee. Note the black color shift to the right:

In 2001, scientists reported in "Nature" magazine that it might be the first documentation of digging for termites by a chimpanzee meaning that Jane Goodall's discovery was not the first. In response, Ulrich Kattmann discovered the original drawing by the artist Gustav Mützel (1839–1893). Mützel adding the note "n. d. Leben" to show that his drawing was from his own observation of a living ape's behavior, not from a pelt, photograph or other illustration. The drawing is a Chimpanzee in Dresden zoo called Mafuka and several details in it were added by Mützel from his imagination and it doesn't shows digging for termite:
https://www.nature.com/articles/35078238

The stamp reissued overprinted:

My oldest stamps show primates are two identical stamps in a set show Orangutan issued for use in North Borneo in 1899 in two colors. The set was engraved and printed by Waterlow & Sons of London:

One of the 1899 stamps in green and black. The second is black and carmine (see last scan):

These two stamps were reissued several time (until 1921) with different overprints: Postage due, British protectorate, Postage due on British protectorate):

Stamps overprinted for use in Labuan (this particular yellowish/brown black stamp was not issued, the carmine one in the next scan is the issued stamp):