The pangolin has walked the earth for 80 million years. Described as a living pinecone and an artichoke with legs, it’s a toothless scaly animal that looks sort of like a snake mixed with an anteater. It’s also one of the most widely traded wild animals in the world. Illegal pangolin trafficking is so common that all eight species of the little-known creature are categorized as “vulnerable,” “endangered,” or “critically endangered.”
Though many think of them as reptiles, pangolins are actually mammals. They are the only mammals wholly-covered in scales and they use those scales to protect themselves from predators in the wild. If under threat, a pangolin will immediately curl into a tight ball and will use their sharp-scaled tails to defend themselves. Pangolins eat ants, termites and larvae and are often known as “the scaly anteater.” Because they have no teeth, pangolins pick up food with their sticky tongues, which can sometimes reach lengths greater than the animal’s body.
Wildlife crime is the greatest threat to pangolin, this week, Chinese customs executed the largest-ever seizure of pangolin scales, confiscating 3.1 tons of them from smugglers. According to Chinese state media, the scales were hidden in a container arriving from Africa, and registered as timber. Customs officers discovered the scales—from about 7,500 pangolins—in 101 woven plastic bags hidden aboard the ship; they’re worth more than $2 million on the black market.
The main suspect in the case confessed that he has been smuggling pangolin scales between Africa and China since 2015. Since the animals are protected in China, smugglers face 10-plus years in prison.
But enforcement is a different beast. For one, pangolins are usually killed, skinned, and frozen before being traded on the black market. Their skins are hard to differentiate from fish and snakes, which are often mixed with pangolins as cover. In June, 4.4 tons of pangolin scales were seized in Hong Kong, hidden in cargo labeled “sliced plastics” from Cameroon.
