Suited in an armor of beautifully colored scales, Africa’s Long-tailed pangolin (Uromanis tetradactyla) is the smallest and most arboreal of all of the world’s eight pangolin species.
The Cape Pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) is one of the larger and more terrestrial of Africa’s four pangolin species.
This cute little Cape pangolin named Chaminuka (“Champ” for short) was recently rescued by the Tikki Hywood Trust in Zimababwe.
The three-cusped pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) gets its name from a unique feature found on their brown, keratinous scales: each one has three points (or keels) on the exposed edge – kind of like a Douglas Fir pine cone!
The giant ground pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) is the largest of all the eight pangolin species. These pangolins can reach lengths of up to 1.8 meters (nearly six feet).
PLEASE NOTE: World Pangolin Day 2013 is February 16!
Did you know that World Pangolin Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in February? We did some poking around on the interweb to see if pangolins have a special day — and they do!
This year, the special day falls on February 18th.
We’ve uncovered disturbing information which strongly suggests that “medicinal use” pangolin farms are already operating in China.
01/13/2012: Check out the update on this story here.
As of this writing, the above could be found here: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/499471942/Pangolin_Scales.html
A search for the term “pangolin” on a major eCommerce website yields some shocking and appalling results: The endangered animals’ flesh and scales are openly listed for sale.
And if that’s not shocking enough, who owns the website may be even more disturbing. Read more
Thanks to the efforts of the Kenya Wildlife Service, a pangolin has been rescued, and one suspect is under arrest.
Updated with new information on 6 August, 2012.
The year 2011 saw a minimum of 58 pangolin seizures reported by media and wildlife trade-monitoring networks, TRAFFIC and Southeast Asian Nations Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN).
The incidents spanned across more than fourteen different countries in East and Southeast Asia, France, and numerous African nations.