Pic Today 10/7/16

 

THIS LITTLE FELLA

IS IN TROUBLE

Meet a pangolin.

 

This scaly mammal

(riding on his mother's back)

is covered in scales,

which (unfortunately)

are prized for their purported

virility and health value

in Chinese medicine.

Fact is . . .

Pangolins are the "most trafficked"

mammal in the world today.

More than 1-million have been

poached and traded since 2000,

for their meat and scales.

Consequently,

there's an extremely high risk

of extinction for this beautiful animal.

Native to Asia and Africa,

pangolins are "walking artichokes",

with no teeth, long sticky tongue,

with giant digging claws,

eating thousands of bugs daily.

Let's make poaching extinct.

(And Chinese medicine,

while we're at it.)

Photo: Courtesy National Geographic