Benin Stamps

Benin Stamps

Benin is a country in West Africa that border Niger and Nigeria and Burkina Faso. The country has about 10 million people. The capital is Porto-Novo, "New Port" in Portuguese. 

Benin was once called Dahomey. It's new name, Benin, was picked it in 1975. Benin is also "the Republic of Benin". 

Most of Benin economy is agriculture, but a big percent of Benin is oil. Copper and gold are also parts of the economy. 

African Lion

Lions are the second largest animal in the cat family, after tigers. The lions is one of the most popular human icons in the world, with drawing and shapes dating back to 600 B.C. 

A male lion can live to ten years in the wild, but in captivity, they can live to more than twenty years. The reason is because in the wild, scratches and cuts are the loss of life. 

Lions hunt wildebeest and gazelle, but some lions hunt humans. Every year, more than 200 people in Zimbabwe are killed by lions. We still don't know why some lions are doing this. 

        African Lion (Hunting)

African lions hunt mainly wildebeest and gazelle, but even they are a little bit hungry, they can hunt what's near them. Mice, a rabbit, everything with the resources the lion needs: Protein.

But sometimes lions hunt little things for entertainment. Their little live toys. 

But sometimes lions will not hunt. Instead, lionesses will hunt for their mate, the lion, if he is busy or tired, injured, or lazy. Many reasons are considered. 

This also could be the reason of the worth of the lioness for the lion to see if she is good enough to hunt and be useful. It could be. 

Lion and Lioness (Hunting)

A lion and a lioness are hunting zebra. In the picture, there would probably be more lions and lionesses because lions hunt in a pride, a group of lions. 

The zebra that are on the stamp are plains zebra, a common type of zebra, a subspecies of the Quagga, the zebra that was wiped out to the 1880's, the Burchell's zebra and the maneless zebra. 

The plains zebra lives in South Africa to Sudan and Ethiopia, and Botswana. In the wild, the plains zebra lives up to 20 years. In captivity, up to 38 years. 

The plains zebra mostly eats grass, but a small percent of the diet is herbs and shrubs. 

The plains zebra is good at protecting their young and themselves because of the good night eyesight they have. Another trick is that they are in big groups. That is a good way to scare hyenas and other predators. 

Humans are also the trouble for the plains zebra. Civil wars in many African countries is killing all wildlife, even the zebras. Hunting for the meat and skin of the zebra is another reason of killing. But the population of the plains zebra is good, as they are good protectors.  

    

Lion (Hunting Blue Wildebeest)

Blue wildebeest are an animal in South Africa and the south parts of Africa. They are high in numbers and are about the height of a regular human being. Blue wildebeest migrate, but not all. 

They are easy to find in the wild. Blue wildebeest are prey to lions, crocodiles and hyenas. They are also game to humans for their meat and skin. 

The blue wildebeest are having trouble with traveling, because many parts of Africa are home to cattle and this is one trouble for the blue wildebeest. 

They are a tourist attraction as well. Many people from other neighboring African countries and European and Asian countries go to see the wildebeest. 

The wildebeest are important to everyone.

  

Lion (Hunting Gazelle)

Lion hunt gazelle, a taste dinner, but are hard to catch. The lion needs protein to be fast, and the gazelle have protein. Lions also need fast reflexes and cunning to catch the gazelle. 

A lion needs about one gazelle to feed himself. But gazelle are hard prey to catch because of their amazing land speed of 48 kph and their fleet of male and female gazelle scare their enemies off.

They eat roots, grass and leaves, or anything of their herbivorous diet. 

This species of gazelle is the Thomson's gazelle. They need to do what they have done in the millions of years of their past. They are important to us, and lions and other fast predators. 

   

Common Chimpanzee

The common chimpanzee is one of the most common chimpanzees around Africa. They live in Western Africa, near the Congo, Benin, Rwanda and other countries in Western Africa. 

Taking care of baby chimpanzees is different from the lives of humans; chimpanzees move to a different tree each night as the babies are sleeping with the mothers. Male chimpanzees look around the area of the tree for predators. If so, they use calling sounds to warn them and other chimpanzees. 

They are very easy to be in one environment to another. Chimpanzees hunt for honey, ants, termites and nuts. They also hunt for a little meat. Honey is done by getting a stick and dipping it to the stick to eat. Nut cracking and ant dipping are hard work. Some can't do it. 

Tools are the way for their lives. From nut cracking to dipping ants, they need to be used; to survive. They have been used to over 4,000 years. 

Common Chimpanzee (Differences With Humans)

Chimpanzees and humans are very, very similar. But when it comes to land and environment, it's a totally different story. Very different. 

Chimpanzees, like humans, are good at surviving in other environments, but helping tools are different with the two species. 

Humans have a higher brain power and IQ, that's why we have modern things like cars and trucks, cranes and many other things that I could name all day long. Chimpanzees have the same path as us, but because of the lack of brain power, it's different. 

But chimpanzees have some of the same ideas as us, like using sticks or rocks to open things; the same with us, but nowadays, we have more ideas for the same idea. 

But living is also different too. They live in trees, we live in houses and apartments and have buildings and towers. But our diets are about the same. Chimpanzees eat nuts and honey like us and even hunt for meat, the same with us. 

But we are growing our things in gardens and farms, not hunting. But a long time ago, we were doing the same things as the chimpanzees were, but it was replaced with better and faster ways. 

Humans still hunt for meat, called game, but some of the humans waste the meat and bones and use it for awards. This is sad. Humans used to use every part of the animals, even the bones for tools, like the chimpanzees, but ideas were being better and smarter. 

Chimpanzees (Drumming)

When a chimpanzee drums loudly, with an angry face and is kicking and screaming, run away as fast as you can. Chimpanzees are very fast and aggressive. So do not make a chimpanzee angry. 

Drumming isn't just an angry sign of the chimpanzees. Sometimes, it's a sign that the chimpanzee is happy or that the chimpanzee is repeating something. 

Drumming might also be a sign that a chimpanzee should stay away from the angry chimpanzee. But sometimes it's a good sign that the chimpanzee might even like you. 

  Chimpanzee (Jane Goodall)

Jane Goodall was the first person to discover and write about the chimpanzee. When she was a little girl, she was given a stuffed chimpanzee as a gift. Her parents thought the animal might scare her or bring nightmares, but she liked it very much. She still has the toy. 

Jane Goodall loved the books and things she knew about the chimpanzees and the animals in Africa. So when she was 27, she went to Kenya and saw lots of animals, and of course, the chimpanzees. 

In her time, chimpanzees were considered pests about they loved to munch on their crops and cause damage. And because of this, the population of the chimpanzee was declining. 

She gave chimpanzees names and loved them very much. And she proved to the world that the chimpanzees are like us and were friendly and kind. She should always be remembered from discovering and saving chimpanzees. 

Chimpanzees (Growing Up)

Chimpanzees grow up a little bit like humans do. Mothers are very careful of their children. They will attack and bite the attacker and if the baby chimpanzee is killed, the mother will mourn and drag the dead body for many days. 

One of the most important things a chimpanzee must learn is what to eat. Many plants look the same and some of them are dangerous. Chimpanzees learn this by watching the mother choose the right plants and the baby chimpanzee copies the movement. 

Another thing that's important is what is dangerous and safe. This is important because the jungle is a scary place, such as a big city. Again, the learning of the chimpanzees is to copy. Copy, copy, copy. 

So growing up is almost the same has our learning of growing. The basics are the same. What to eat, what not to eat. What is dangerous and safe. But that copying is different to what we do to learn. And overall, growing up for both species is about the same.