Cartoon Elephants Star Forever First Class Postage Stamps

A digital illustration of an adult elephant with its calf, framed by two stylized plants and a bright orange sun. The drawing is deliberately simple and warm rather than naturalistic. Americans have been fascinated by elephants since the first one was brought ashore here in 1796, and the fascination has more behind it than the ears and the apparent smile - elephants live long lives, cooperate, and show an emotional range close enough to ours that people read it without instruction.

It is a good-natured stamp and it gets used that way: children's birthday cards, baby shower invitations, notes to grandparents, thank-you cards after a zoo trip. Wildlife charities and sanctuaries put them on donor mail, where a drawing does better than a photograph of an animal in trouble. Booklets of 20. The orange sun in the corner is what keeps it warm rather than turning it into a wildlife stamp.