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Marine Turtle Newsletter 64:30-31, © 1994

Sea Turtles on Postage Stamps

Nancy B. Linsley
2625 American River Drive, Sacramento, California 95864 USA

Postage stamps offer an excellent and novel means of promoting the conservation of sea turtles, as well as stimulating an interest in their biology. The popularity of issuing stamps depicting sea turtles has increased considerably during recent years. When the first comprehensive list of these stamps was published a decade ago (by Gomez and Balazs in 1983), there were known to be 176 stamps from 56 countries.

The most recent version of the list (as of 1 October 1993), compiled by George Balazs and Nancy Linsley, now features 407 stamps and souvenir sheets from 90 countries and territories. The list will be updated annually. The green turtle is the most popular species, featured on 122 stamps, followed by the hawksbill on 102, the leatherback on 42, the loggerhead on 30, the olive ridley on 11, the Kemp's ridley on 3, and the Australian flatback on 2. The remaining stamps feature what might be called a "generic", or stylized sea turtle. The majority of the stamps have the sea turtle as their main subject, with others featuring the turtle as part of the stamp's background or border design, or on a country's Coat of Arms. Many of these stamps are quite beautiful, with some of the more recent additions reflecting an increased awareness and interest in the sea turtle's behavior, depicting nest digging, egg laying, and hatchling activity.

Our list includes the date of issue and denomination of each stamp, both the Scott and Stanley Gibbons (British) catalog numbers, any relevant description printed on the stamps, and/ or our own descriptive notes. A copy will be sent, free of charge, to interested parties, and can be requested from the author (above).