Pangolin Smuggling At "Shocking" Levels
Scaly anteater A tree pangolin (Manis tricuspis), native to equatorial Africa. Valerius Tygart via Wikimedia Commons Pangolins, scaled mammals that live in Southeast Asia and Africa, are being illegally trafficked on a massive scale, according to a new study--they are now the "most traded wild animal," according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The same armor-like scales that protect these little guys from predators are desired in traditional Chinese medicine for their bogus medicinal value. The amount of animals being killed and traded is growing, and so is the price for scales: They currently fetch $600 per kilogram ($272 per pound), twice what they traded for only five years ago, according to a study in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Rising demand is driven in part by rapid economic growth in Asia, which has...