An exhibition featuring hundreds of insect-themed postage stamps from around the world is on display at the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung.
Stamps are like “miniature versions of encyclopedias,” the Ministry of Education, which runs the museum, said in a statement yesterday.
Besides enabling correspondence, stamps, from a humanities perspective, contain designs that can express regional characteristics, natural landscapes and major historical events, the ministry said.
From a scientific and cultural viewpoint, they bear the imprint of the times, and reflect scientific developments and social changes, it said.
The insect collection at the museum is not only the best in Taiwan, but also a leading one in Asia, museum director-deneral Sun Wei-hsin (孫維新) said in a statement.
Unlike other insect-themed exhibitions the museum has held, “Insects on Stamps” (郵說昆蟲) introduces the science and wonder of insects to viewers through the stamps, he said.
The exhibition, which opened on June 24, is divided into five sections: “Successful Adaptation,” “Spinning Silk to Make Cocoons,” “All About Bees,” “The Human-Mosquito War” and “Coexistence of Humans and Insects.”
It was co-organized by the Postal Museum, the Miaoli District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, National Taiwan University’s Department of Public Health and the Chinese Culture and Fine Arts Philatelic Association.
In addition to stamps from around the world, the exhibition also features nearly 100 insect specimens and silk products, the ministry said, encouraging visitors to use the magnifying glasses at the exhibition to get a closer look at the exhibits.
A BBC video introducing the mysteries of insects would also be played at the exhibition, it said.
“Insects have flourished on Earth for more than 300 million years,” the National Museum of Natural Science said.
“Through morphological, physiological, biochemical and reproductive adaptations, they have adjusted to changes in the environment,” it said, adding that they are important components of the Earth’s biosphere.
The ministry hopes the exhibition will enable viewers to not only appreciate the beauty of stamps and explore the insect world, but also consider the relationship between humans and insects, and how they can coexist in harmony, it said.
Postal Museum director Wang Chun-ju (王君如) said in a statement that she hopes the exhibition will inspire among the public a passion for stamp collecting.
From Wednesday next week to Aug. 30, the National Museum of Natural Science, typically closed on Mondays, would be open daily, it said.
Insects on Stamps runs through Feb. 21 next year.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS