Crikey, there’s lots, but I absolutely love Pangolin, baby ones are just the most adorable little creatures:
Sadly they are currently categorised as critically endangered due to, yes you guess it, the Chinese treating them as a delicacy/using for medicine.
Up to 100,000 pangolins are estimated to be hunted and sold every year, making them the most traded wild animal in the world.The meat is considered a delicacy in China, Vietnam and other parts of south-east Asia, while the scales are prized for traditional medicine.
Researchers warned last year that the Chinese pangolin is in danger of being “eaten to extinction” because of huge demand.
Roasted pangolin scales are believed to cure cancer, relieve palsy and even stimulate breast milk.
A study last year of seized goods since 2010 found 2.59 tonnes of scales representing approximately 4,870 pangolins, along with 259 intact creatures – 220 were living and 39 were dead.
The demand has seen prices rocket from £8.50 for a kilogramme of scales in 1990s to more than £360 today.
The increasingly lucrative trade is driving poachers to capitalise by snaring the creatures in forests and sometimes feeding them gravel to increase their weight and value.
– http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/pangolins-what-are-they-why-are-they-so-endangered-and-what-can-we-do-to-help-10085887.html