A couple of years ago, I didn’t know what a pangolin was. Since then, they’ve become one of my favourite animals (although I’ve never seen or been in the physical presence of one), and were an Animal of Interest, as I call all my animal-related neurodivergent special interests.
I’d love to introduce pangolins to you and share some facts about them today in honour of World Pangolin Day!
Disclaimer: my intention in sharing the following facts with you from the sources below is not intended to be plagiarism or copyright infringement, but is intended to spread the word about pangolins. The information in this blog has been gathered from the sources below, and I encourage you to do your own research on pangolins:
- African Pangolin Working Group
- WWF Pangolin Page
- Save Pangolins
- Talking with the Ancient Ones event hosted by Pea Horsley at Animal Thoughts featuring Alexis Kriel and Gareth Thomas
10 Facts About Pangolins:
- They are quiet, solitary, secretive beings thought to be representative of the medicine man and protector in spiritual teachings
- There are four species of pangolins in Asia (Indian pangolin, Sunda pangolin, Chinese pangolin, and the Philippine pangolin) and four in Africa (Black-bellied pangolin, White-bellied pangolin, Giant Ground pangolin, and the Temmincks Ground pangolin)
- They primarily eat ants (and termites) with their long tongue and scrape into ant nests with their claws
- They don’t typically seek out company, but are open to people
- They have an incredible sense of intuition and knowing
- They don’t survive very well in captivity
- Pangolin pups love to play
- They are unfortunately the most trafficked mammal in Asia
- To defend themselves they roll up into a ball using their overlapping scales (made from keratin) for protection
- They are mostly nocturnal
And that’s just the start! I’d highly recommend you look up videos of pangolins walking on YouTube and find out for yourself more about these incredible creatures.
For more information, have a look at the websites and resources above.
Final Thoughts
One of the most commonly asked questions at the ‘Talking with the Ancient Ones’ event last year was, how can we help? The answer to that was summarised as having conversations about pangolins, sharing about them and their situations, and putting new ideas out there.
This is my intention for this blog post on World Pangolin Day 2023, that it’ll keep the conversation and awareness about pangolins going.
Much love from me,
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