Meet the pangolin, a small, scaly Asian creature that wears the unfortunate crown of being the world's most trafficked mammal.
Iframe Code
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While being covered in scales has the distinct advantage of qualifying the odd creature as the most steampunk animal in existence, the pangolin's prickly exterior tends to do it more harm than good. Its keratin scales are used in traditional medicine to treat skin diseases, and pangolin meat can fetch up to $150 dollars per pound at restaurants in parts of China where it's considered a delicacy. What's worse is that because the animals are less magnificent (and less cuddly) than the poster children of endangered species' movements, like elephants and tigers, they receive less attention.
"The pangolin runs the risk of becoming extinct before most people have even heard of them," said Britain's Prince William. If an endorsement from the prince doesn't help animals' cause, Pokemon lovers of the world should rise to the occasion, as the popular character Sandslash was loosely based on the pangolin.
-
How are ICE’s recruitment woes complicating Trump’s immigration agenda?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION Lowered training standards and ‘athletically allergic’ hopefuls are getting in the way of the White House plan to turn the Department of Homeland Security into a federal police force
-
What is a bubble? Understanding the financial term.the explainer An AI bubble burst could be looming
-
France makes first arrests in Louvre jewels heistSpeed Read Two suspects were arrested in connection with the daytime theft of royal jewels from the museum
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
