National Zoo Launches Customized Conservation Stamps

Just in time for mailing holiday greeting cards, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo launches a series of customized conservation stamps featuring seven Zoo animals: the giant panda, Asian elephant, Panamanian golden frog, clouded leopard, Kirtland’s warbler, Scimitar-horned oryx and western lowland gorilla. The animals represent major science programs at the Zoo.

To celebrate the stamp series, Friends of the National Zoo is hosting a Conservation Stamp Day Saturday, Nov. 14, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Zoo. The day includes special animal-keeper talks at the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat, the Great Ape House, Asia Trail, and Amazonia, where four of the animals featured on the Zoo’s customized conservation stamps can be seen in person. The first 300 children to visit these areas that day will receive free Zoo giveaways, including water bottles, plush animals, coloring sheets, crayons and stickers.

In addition, anyone who spends $50 or more at any Zoo gift shop Nov. 14 only, will receive a free sheet of 20 stamps. 

The stamps are available for purchase online at the Zoo’s Web site, nationalzoo.si.edu, and in the Zoo’s gift shops for $20.95.  Each sheet, consisting of 20 stamps, features one animal. The value of these special stamps is equivalent to a first-class U.S. postal stamp and they can be used to send cards and letters through the U.S. Postal Service. Proceeds benefit conservation programs at the Zoo.