World Pangolin Day!

[Jubal]

It's still just about World Pangolin Day in the UK, so here's a post for the creature in my avatar



Pangolins are mammals with keratin scales, found in Africa and Asia. There are 8 species, some ground-living and some arboreal: they are insectivores with long tongues for eating termites and suchlike. They're very hard to keep in captivity, which is partly why they're little known in Europe & America.

They're also the most illegally trafficked mammal group in existence - in the last few years, it's thought that over a million have been captured from the wild, mostly for the East Asian "traditional medicine" market. All of the 8 species are red-listed for their conservation status - two are "vulnerable", four "endangered", and two more "critically endangered."

You can find more on conservation issues at the IUCN pangolin specialist group's website:
http://www.pangolinsg.org/