My Favorite Postcards

The Drumming Duck

I. Q. Zoo
380 Whittington Avenue
Hot Springs, Arkansas

The performing animals at I.Q. Zoo are the result of something new in animal training.  They have been trained by animal psychologist Keller Breland of Hot Springs, Arkansas.  These animals learn by the reward system.  No punishment is used.   Once trained, they will not forget and will perform automatically for any one.  The I.Q. Zoo animals are nationally famous.  They have been featured on television and in Life, Collier's, Popular Mechanics and other national magazines.

Copyright, Keller Breland, 1955.

This postcard is unused. 

The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory

Stroll through a tropical paradise and enjoy an exotic environment filled with hundreds of butterflies, an impressive collection of flowering plants, cascading waterfalls and trees - all under a climate controlled, glass enclose habitat, along with adjacent Gift Shop, Learning Center and Gallery.

This unused postcard is from 2015.

- - - - - - -

This Conservatory houses from 50-60 different species of live butterflies from around the world.

Marilyn's Merry-Go-Round at The Living Desert in Palm Desert California.  The 30 endangered animals found on this wonderful attraction are living right in this unique zoo!

The Living Desert started in 1970 covering 360 square acres, now in 2013 it has grown to cover 1200 acres.  One thousand acres of this beautiful zoo is still preserved in its natural state.

Photography and digital art by Colleen Cornelius in 2013.

This postcard is unused and features a golden eagle bird and a rhinoceros. 

Vogelpark Walsrode (Walsrode Bird Park)

The sender writes that this bird park is one of the worlds largest with over 4,000 birds.

This sounds like a fun place to spend the afternoon  :-)

It is postmarked in 2008 with a machine stamp.

- - - - - - -

Weltvogelpark Walsrode (The name changed in 2010) is the largest bird park in the world in terms of species as well as land area. It covers 24 hectares (59 acres) and houses some 4,200 birds of over 675 species from every continent and climatic zone in the world. 

Heimat-Tierpark Olderdissen

Here are the two postcards put together to featuring a tall bird called a stork.
They are both postmarked in 2013 with Finland ‘postal vehicles’ stamps.

- - - - -

The Heimat-Tierpark Olderdissen is an urban zoo in the city of Bielefeld. It is on approximately 15 acres and has more than 450 animals from about 100 different species. The park was established in 1930.
 

Atlanta, Georgia Zoo
Giant Pandas

Lun Lun gave birth to her third cub, Po, a male, on November 3,2010.  The cub as the only giant panda born in the U.S. in 2010, representing hope for a beloved endangered species.  Every birth is critical for giant pandas, which number fewer than 1,600 in the wild.
Photo by Alan K. Thompson / Zoo Atlanta

postmarked in 2013 with a Go Green 'maintain tire pressure' stamp
- - -

Australia Zoo
Sunshine coast Australia.

The back has Crocs Rule! with Steve and Terri Irwin's pre-printed autographs.

This was postmarked in 2000 with Australia 'Big Greasy Butterfly' stamp for $1.

- - - - - - -

Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin (22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006), nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian wildlife expert, television personality, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted with his wife Terri. Together, the couple also owned and operated Australia Zoo, founded by Irwin's parents in Beerwah, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of the Queensland state capital city of Brisbane.
Irwin died on 4 September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary film titled Ocean's Deadliest.

 

Tuatara, Otorohanga Kiwi House

pikitia (company that made the postcard)

unused, from 2010

- - - - - - -

The tuatara is a reptile from New Zealand.  They are greenish brown and gray, and measure up to 80 cm (31 in) from head to tail-tip and weigh up to 1.3 kg (2.9 lb).

The name "tuatara" derives from the Māori language, and means "peaks on the back".

- - -

Otorohanga Kiwi House started in 1971 with the dream to rescue New Zealand's unique birds and reptiles from the ravages of predators and de-forestation. They now have New Zealand's largest private collection of native birds.

Sydney Aquarium

Moon Jellies
Photography by Darren Jew

This one is postmarked in 2012 with an Australian 'Dingo' stamp.

Giraffenkalb "Andrea" geboren am 19. Februar 2007
im Tierpark Berlin, mit Mutter "Lotti"
Foto:: picture-alliance / dpa / Arno Burgi

translation:
Giraffe calf "Andrea" was born on 19 February 2007
in the Berlin Zoo with mother "Lotti"
Photo: picture-alliance / dpa / Arno Burgi

unused, bought in Germany in 2011

Flower Bed and Reptile House, Zoological Gardens, Philadelphia, Pa.

The Zoological Garden is located in Fairmount Park on the west side of the Schuylkill River, stretching over 33 acres. It contains a large collection of wild animals, birds and reptiles from all over the world.

This is postmarked in 1948.

- - - - - - - - - -

The Philadelphia Zoo is now 42-acres with victorian gardens and is home to more than 1300 animals, many of them rare and endangered.

Zebra

Zoo Atlanta's zebras are a subspecies called Grant's Zebras. Grant's Zebras are native to East Africa, north of the Zambezi River. Each zebra's stripes are as individual as fingerprints, and serve to camouflage them from predators.

Photo by Joe Sebo

postmarked in 2009 with a 28 cent polar bear stamp