Pangolin
The most illegally trafficked animal on Earth
In the grasslands of south-east Asia, a strange creature the size of a domestic cat emerges from a deep burrow in search of its supper. Covered in hard scales but with a soft pink underbelly, beady little eyes, a long snout and a strong, thick tail, it has a sticky tongue as long as its body, to slurp up ants and termites. The Chinese pangolin looks like a walking pine cone – something from the pages of a fairy-tale. Females give birth only once a year, to just one baby at a time, known as a pangopup.