Jip and Janneke

 Meeting card from Rotterdam :)
Signed by Jetske,Octabis,Dandillion,MissMaple,Cindy79,Tijtske and Laura ;) Thank you very much ,you all made my day :)

Jip and Janneke (Dutch: Jip en Janneke) is a series of children's books in the Netherlands, written by Annie M.G. Schmidt and illustrated by Fiep Westendorp. The series is known for its simplicity and wit.

Red Panda

Sent by Jetske.This cute red panda lives in Rotterdam Zoo. It came with matching stamp on envelope:)

The Red Panda is a small arboreal mammal and the only species of the genus Ailurus. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, it has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs. It eats mainly bamboo, but is omnivorous and may also eat eggs, birds, insects, and small mammals. It is a solitary animal, mainly active from dusk to dawn, and is largely sedentary during the day.

Endemic to the temperate forests of the Himalayas, the Red Panda ranges from Nepal in the west toChina in the east. It is also found in northern India, Bhutan and northern Myanmar. Accurate population figures in the wild are difficult to find, with estimates ranging from 11,000 to 20,000 worldwide. Although it is protected by law in all countries where it lives, its numbers in the wild continue to decline mainly due to habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and inbreeding depression.

The Red Panda is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN red list (2009.01), and is listed in CITESappendix I. It has been previously classified in the families Procyonidae (raccoon) and Ursidae(bears), but recent research has placed it in its own family Ailuridae, in superfamily Musteloideaalong with Mustelidae, Procyonidae, and Mephitidae. Two subspecies are recognized.

The Red Panda is quite adaptable to living in captivity and is common in zoos worldwide. As of 2006 the international studbook listed more than 800 individuals in zoos and parks around the world.

Drenthe,The Netherlands

Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west,Groeningen to the north, and Germany(districts of Emsland and Bentheim) to the east.

Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a sparsely populated rural area since medieval times. Except for some industry in Assen and Emmen, the lands in Drenthe are mainly used for farming.

Drenthe has been populated by people since prehistory . Artifacts from the Wolostonian Stage(150.000 years ago) are among the oldest found in the Netherlands. In fact it was one of the most densely populated areas of the Netherlands until the Bronze Age. Most tangible evidence of this are the dolmens built around 3500 BC, 53 of the 54 dolmens in the Netherlands can be found in Drenthe, concentrated in the northeast of the province.

Drenthe was first mentioned in a document from the year 820, it was called Pago Treanth(district Drenthe). In archives from "Het Drents Archief" from 1024 to 1025 the "county Drenthe" is mentioned.

Ossendrecht,Holland

This is a official card from Holland.

Ossendrecht is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Woensdrecht, about 12 km southeast of Bergen op Zoom.

Ossendrecht was a separate municipality until 1997, when it became part of Woensdrecht

Polar bears