ERRORS ON POSTAGE STAMPS WITH BISONS

    There are about 200 postage stamps with bisons. Stamps with design errors are among them. Next to the name of the European bison can be placed an image of the American bison and vice versa. Distinctions in the exterior and color of bisons and wisents are sufficient to discover such stamps.

    An animal with name European bison (Bison bonasus) on the postage stamp of Maldives of 1996 does not at all resemble a wisent. It looks like an American plains bison.
    Of course differences in the exterior of bisons can be very significant but bison on postage stamp is such a one as on the illustration to the description of plains bisons (Bison bison) in Encyclopaedia Britannica (picture below). It is not Bison bonasus.

    There is something wrong with American bisons on postage stamps too. Such bison are available on the stamps and souvenir sheets of Equatorial Guinea of 1976.
    The species name on the stamps is not indicated. Photograph was used and we can say this animal is European bison or wisent. Long legs, long tail and the prominent hump are sufficient for this conclusion. However these postage stamps were dedicated to the 200th Anniversary of USA Independence and the image of the European bison is not corresponding to issue.

    European bison (Bison bonasus) was called American bison (Bison bison) on the label of the miniature sheet of the Sao Tome and Principe of 2006. All the specific signs of the European bison in the exterior and color are given in such detail that the definition of the species is beyond doubt. The ochre-brown color of the pelage without sharp color differences, body compressed laterally, a detached hump, a head with a short facial part, the tip of the tail below the hocks are not typical for the American bison. Name Bison bison is design error. Postage stamps of Poland of 1965 with similar wisents is near for comparison.

    There are errors on special postmarks too. American plains bison was called the King of the Bialowieza Forest on postmark of Poland in 2017, not wisent. Image of this bison repeatedly was used on postmarks of the USA (near for comparison).

Image of bison from the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Source: https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/69/90469-004-5463224F.jpg