pango on Clubhouse

Description

Pangolins… rare, scale-covered mammals, about the size of a house cat, that’s so bizarre it almost forces your brain to flip through a Rolodex of more-familiar images.

No sounds come from its home. No squeaks or howls.

It could be described as a walking pinecone or an artichoke with legs – a tiny dinosaur or friendly crocodile. The pangolin possesses none of the cachet of better-known animals that are hot on the international black market. It lacks the tiger’s grace, the rhino’s brute strength. If the pangolin went to high school, it would be the drama geek -- elusive, nocturnal, rarely appreciated and barely understood. When it's frightened, it actually curls up into a roly-poly ball.

two species of which are endangered and all of which are protected by international treaty -- are trafficked by the thousands for their scales, which are boiled off their bodies for use in traditional medicine; for their meat, which is a high-end delicacy; and for their blood, which is seen as a healing tonic.

By the most conservative estimates, 10,000 pangolins are trafficked illegally each year. If you assume only 10% to 20% of the actual trade is reported by the news media, the true number trafficked over a two-year period was 116,990 to 233,980, according to Annamiticus, an advocacy group.

No one knows how many pangolins are left in the wild.
But scientists and activists say the number is shrinking fast.