A pair of endangered frog species will soon stick to letters across Canada as the country’s official postal service aims to draw attention to their plight in new stamp designs.
Canada Post issued the stamps featuring the Oregon spotted frog and Fowler’s toad this week.
“Both on Canada’s endangered species list, the frogs have experienced habitat loss from human activity, invasive organisms and pollution,” Canada Post said in statement.
Fowler’s toad (Anaxyrus fowleri) can be found only on the north shore of Lake Erie, one of Ontario’s Great Lakes. (It also lives in the eastern United States.) The nocturnal critter, which breeds in shallow ponds, pools and marshes, also likes sandy beaches and dunes.
The Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa) lives on the other side of the country, in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. (The species has already vanished from California, but still can be found in Oregon and parts of Washington state.)
These frogs are specialists in the water, swimming effortlessly thanks to their thoroughly webbed feet. They also can still see well above the surface of the water while submerged due to their upward-angled eyes.
The stamps were designed by Jocelyne Saulnier of Joce Creative, were illustrated by Emily S. Damstra and printed by Lowe-Martin.
Some 250,000 booklets of stamps with the featured frogs will be issued. There will be another 6,000 Official First Day Covers and 40,000 souvenir sheets.
