ABOVE: © ISTOCK.COM,
DARRENBRADLEYPHOTOGRAPHY
Growing to more than 1.5 meters and weighing in at up to 75 pounds, pangolins aren’t meager creatures. They are solitary, insect-eating mammals that come in a range of sizes, yet all are wrapped in a distinctive armor of sharp, brownish scales. Sometimes referred to as “scaly anteaters” due to their diet and appearance, pangolins have recently attracted global attention for their potential role in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The source of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, remains unclear, but scientists suspect the coronavirus originated in bats and passed to people via an intermediate host. That intermediate host may have been the pangolin, some studies suggest.
The possible role of pangolins in the new coronavirus outbreak has recently piqued the interest of scientists around the world. But many researchers have been studying pangolins for years, for another reason: the scaly creatures are the most trafficked mammals ...
