World Pangolin Day - celebrate and protect these amazing animals

Today is World Pangolin Day. Did you know that Pangolins are the most poached and traded animal in the world, even worse off than rhinos? They are poached for their scales which are believed by some Asians to have medicinal value (which is of course quite bogus, they are as medicinal as your finger nail).

There are several species of these amazing little animals that occur throughout Asia and Africa. I live in South Africa, where we get the Temminck's Ground Pangolin. Unfortunately, although I regularly visit nature reserves and spend a great deal of time in nature, I've never yet had the privilege to see one of these great little creatures. I really would like to, but they are hard to spot. Mostly they are nocturnal and so rarely seen. So, I've had to content myself with painting a stone to look like a pangolin. Here is my pet rock pangolin.

They are fascinating little animals both because of their amazing scales that they use to protect themselves from predators (but unfortunately not poachers). They can roll up into a tight impenetrable ball. Ground pangolins also have an interesting way of locomoting, they walk on their hind legs only, like little T-rexes. The videos are too gorgeous.

We really have to do all we can to assist these amazing animals and ensure their survival as a species. There are two organizations that are doing amazing work for pangolins, these are the Tikki Hywood Trust in Zimbabwe and REST (Rare and Endangered Species Trust ) in Namibia. Both are worthy of your support.

Let's love pangolins.