Safeguarding the future for Africa’s pangolins
With their armoured bodies, sharp claws and long, sticky tongues, pangolins may look like a force to be reckoned with. But theyโre no match for natureโs most ruthless predator: humans.
Pangolins are nocturnal creatures that move through the bush wearing a cloak of scales made of tough keratin, yet this is the very line of defence that has thrust them into the top spot as the most trafficked mammal on the planet.
Keratin is the fibrous protein found in hair, fingernails, horns and hooves. Despite a lack of scientific evidence supporting any medicinal value, pangolin scales, as well as meat and bones, are still desirable in some traditional cultures around Africa and Asia.
Read more about pangolins, and what Pangolin.Africa is doing to protect them from extinction, in this article by Summer Rylander in the 9th addition of the online, Weniglam Travel Magazine here.
