Animal That Looks Like a Armadillo Without a Shell
When the famous naturalist Sir David Attenborough was invited to choose whichten threatened animals he would salvage from extinction, ane that he placed on his listing was the mysterious pangolin,the simply mammal on the planet with scales. "It's i of the most endearing animals I take e'er met. Huge numbers of them are illegally exported, mainly to China," said Attenborough. He discovered information technology later rescuing ane from a cooking pot in Asia during the filming of a documentary. Here nosotros review what makes this beast so different and so coveted.
What makes the pangolin so special?
The truth is that nearly everything about this animal is special,from its unique advent—which has earned it descriptions such as an "anteater with scales" or an "artichoke with legs"—to its comical andhumanoid power to stand on its two hind legs and, with the support provided by its powerful prehensile tail, wobble forrard. This makes it 1 of the few mammals—along with humans and some primates and kangaroos—that exercise bipedalism.
The pangolin is also the only mammal with scales—similar to those of fish and reptiles, while the shell of the armadillo is bony in nature. These scales form an armour that covers the top of the head, all the dorsum and tail, only non the face, throat, abdomen and the inside of the legs. Information technology serves equally protection against its predators: when feeling threatened it rolls itself upwardly and becomes an armoured brawl.
What does it feed on?
The caput of the pangolin is pocket-size compared to the body, and elongated. Information technology has a tubular snout and a toothless rima oris, with a narrow, muscular and sticky tongue—lubricated past huge salivary glands—which information technology inserts into anthills and termite mounds to feed on tens of thousands of these insects daily, digesting them with the help ofsmall pebbles that accumulate in its tum.
Its natural language is as long as the whole torso and is attached at its base to a pelvic bone. When non being used it remains wrapped in a kind of pocket or bag inside the throat, which profoundly limits its ability to vocalize. In fact, pangolins communicate with each other by chemical signals that secrete through special glands, taking advantage of an extraordinary sense of smell, which makes up for its poor vision and hearing.
Are they related to armadillos and anteaters?
Although for a time the pangolins were grouped together with armadillos and anteaters in the Edentata superorder, it is at present considered that the similarities and parallelisms between ane and the other are the result of a process ofconvergent development.
In fact, pangolins are so unique thatan order has been divers, Pholidota, composedbut of the viii known pangolin species: 4 Asian and four African, including the behemothic pangolin. These species differ, in addition to their place of origin, by their size and by their manner of life—either arboreal or terrestrial: the smallest species (arboreal) barely reach 2 kg, while the giant pangolin (terrestrial) tin exceed 30 kg.
Why are pangolins however a mystery?
Information technology's because there are still manyaspects of their nature and behaviour that are unknown: how they pair and mate, how long gestation lasts, how long they live in the wild or if their behaviour is more or less territorial.
This is because they are very shy animals, lonely and nocturnal; when they are forced to live together or are torn from their surround and moved they become greatly stressed, develop ulcers, terminate feeding, become aggressive and end up dying. And the worst thing is that, at their current rate of disappearance the pangolin will eventually go extinct without many of these questions being answered.
Why have they go such widespread victims of creature trafficking?
This is due to the growing and massive demand for these animals from Asia, especially from China and Vietnam, wherelarge sums are paid for their meat and scales. Backside this increasing demand is the economical growth in both countries, in which eating pangolin is a demonstration of wealth. Thus, wealthy businessmen go to exclusive restaurants in the company of friends and colleagues and order a live specimen, which is presented at the tabular array earlier beingness sacrificed before the diners. This makes it clear that their businesses are booming and that they can afford to splurge. They pay up to $i,000 for a live pangolin and $300 per kilo for the meat.
A big number of the pangolins captured in Asia get to restaurants, which in plow has caused demand to motility to Africa—the other continent where in that location are pangolins—which has go the second largest market and supplier of these animals. Even so, due to the extreme sensitivity and stress that they suffer and which prevents them from surviving the shipment to Asia, African pangolins are mainly used for meat markets and for the supply of scales to traditional medicine establishments, where they reach $3,000 per kilo.
What is special nearly pangolin plates or scales?
The unlike traditional eastern medicines attribute all kinds of virtues and healing powers to them. For instance, the official treatise of traditional Vietnamese medicine recommends them equally invigorating, to improve claret circulation, cure ulcers and promote the secretion of chest milk, and likewise to treat acne and scrofula. Other traditional medicinesprescribe them as a cure for arthritis and even cancer.
However, the truth is that pangolin scales are but plates or deposits of highly keratinized cells. In other words, they are total of keratin poly peptide, just like rhinoceros horns… and homo nails. As conservationist Maria Diekmann puts it, "if they have ability to cure cancerthen so does bitter your fingernails". But, "that's the cultural belief and it's so onetime and then deeply ingrained information technology'south very hard to shift."
What measures are being taken to curb this state of affairs?
And then far, the 182 nations that have signed theConvention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have reached an agreement for the total ban on trade in pangolins.
In addition, and led by Attenborough himself, amedia campaign has been launched to raise public awareness and save the pangolin.
Miguel Barral
@ migbarral
Animal That Looks Like a Armadillo Without a Shell
Source: https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/bioscience/the-pangolin-the-strangest-and-most-desired-animal-in-the-world/#:~:text=This%20makes%20it%20one%20of,armadillo%20is%20bony%20in%20nature.
Comments
Post a Comment