穿山甲急需人类关注The scaly pinecone in desperate need of a PR campaign

Do you know what a pangolin is? An instrument, guessed one friend. Term for a baby panda, perhaps? A tropical fruit grown inIndonesia, was another oddly specific response.   

I've been conducting this haphazard survey ever since I came across the pangolin in a story about an illegal wild animal trafficking operation.

Whilst having a low profile in the general public, it seems the pangolin is well known in the black market trade in dead or live animals. That's right, the pangolin is an animal. Imagine an aardvark with an even more impressive suit of armor and an endearing habit of curling up into a tight ball.

The very scales designed to protect it from predators are exactly what has made it a target for illegal hunting. Their defense mechanism of rolling up in a ball may be enough to confuse lions, but, in a cruel twist, it makes it easy for hunters to simply pick them up.

All eight variations of the pangolin from Asia andAfricaare now among the most endangered mammals. Wildlife organizations estimate 100,000 pangolins are captured each year, fetching up to $3000 a kilo. Pangolin meat is a delicacy and their tough scales are either turned into decoration or dried for use in traditional Chinese medicine. So why hasn't anyone who doesn't want to eat them know about them?

Clearly, this scaly critter needs better PR.

Hampering their cause is that you're unlikely to see a pangolin in a zoo. No wild animal enjoys being caged, but it seems the pangolin really can't hack it, becoming stressed, depressed and dying early. It's hard to mount a successful for campaign for an animal that 99 percent of the population will never see in real life, let alone be able to have your photo taken with one.  

Perhaps part of the reason they don't fare well in captivity is because not much is known about them. We know they eat ants, but their diet may include all kinds of other bugs. We don't know how long they live in the wild or much about their breeding habits. They are mammals of mystery.

It's a vicious cycle, without much love for the creature, there's little pressure to throw precious scientific research funding dollars at it.

They haven't been completely forgotten. There are admirable and hardworking people dedicated to shutting down the illegal pangolin trade and running rehabilitation centers inAsiaon shoestring budget. There is World Pangolin Day and you can buy a "save pangolins" T-shirt online.  

But without a significant increase in support, these mammals of mystery are at serious risk of disappearing entirely before most people even know they exist.

It may not be as cute and cuddly as a panda, or as strong as a rhino, but it only takes an online image search to see this peculiar creature has potential. They're shy, non-aggressive, and their bizarre scaly shell has earnt them cute nicknames like  "walking pinecone" and "modern day dinosaur". And I haven't even mentioned their super sticky tongue can be longer than their body, ideal for scooping up ants.

So now the panda is off the endangered list, let's dedicate some of our animal love, and social media feed space, to this bizarre, misunderstood creature.

你知道穿山甲是什么吗?“乐器”，一位朋友猜道。又或许是熊猫宝宝的别称？还有一个一本正经而令人哑然失笑的回答是: 一种生长在印度尼西亚的热带水果。

自从偶然在一个关于非法贩卖野生动物的新闻中了解穿山甲后，我就时不时地进行这样的小调查。

穿山甲尽管不被大众熟知，但却是黑市交易的 “明星”，人们在这里买卖活动物或死动物。没错，穿山甲是一种动物，想象一下，它拥有非洲食蚁兽（aardvark）的体型，铠甲却更为引人注目，还有喜欢蜷缩成一团球的习惯，十分可爱。

这种用于抵御捕食者的鳞片恰恰使它们成为了非法捕猎者的目标。蜷缩成球的防御机制用来迷惑狮子或许足矣，但在关键时刻，却使捕猎者很容易一眼就认出它们。

穿山甲一共有八大种类，分布在亚洲和非洲，现已成为濒临灭绝的哺乳动物之一。据野生动物组织估计，每年约有10万只穿山甲被捕，平均一公斤可卖出3000美元的高价。穿山甲肉可做成美味佳肴，其坚硬的铠甲既可用于装饰又可制作中药。那么问题来了，为什么无意食用穿山甲的公众都不知道这种动物呢?

答案很明显，这种带有鳞片的动物需要更广泛的公众普及度。

阻碍公众了解这种动物的原因之一是穿山甲不大可能出现在动物园。没有任何野生动物乐意被关在笼子里，但似乎穿山甲尤其不适合圈养，圈养的穿山甲会变得肌肉紧张，精神不振，最后早早死去。对于这种99%的普通人在现实生活中都从未见过的动物而言，想要成功唤起人们对它的保护意识太难了，更不必说能和这种动物合张影。

或许穿山甲不适合人工饲养的原因还在于人们并不熟悉它的习性。我们知道穿山甲吃蚂蚁，但它们的食物可能也包含其它虫类。我们不知道它们在野外的寿命有多长，对它们的繁殖习惯也不甚了解。这是一种充满谜团的哺乳动物。

如此一来就陷入了恶性循环：人们对穿山甲了解甚少，因此没有过多关爱，进而使得人们对此投入的科研基金也甚少。

但形势也并不完全糟糕，穿山甲并未彻底被大众遗忘。一直以来，不乏有令人钦佩的敬业人士致力于减少非法穿山甲交易，用自己的微薄之力建立亚洲穿山甲康复中心；现在我们设立了“世界穿山甲日“；印有“救救穿山甲”字样的T恤衫也可在网上买到。

但是倘若人类不加大保护力度，那么在大部分公众知道世界上有穿山甲这种动物之前，这种神秘的哺乳动物就将面临严重的灭顶之灾。

穿山甲或许不如熊猫那般可爱，毛茸茸的让人忍不住拥抱，也不如犀牛那般强壮，但你只需上网搜一下它们的图片，就可以看到这种奇特生物的特征。它们很害羞，性情恬淡，身上布满鳞片的奇特铠甲让它们拥有了诸如 “行走的松果”、“现代恐龙”等昵称。对了，我还没提到穿山甲超级黏的舌头呢，它们的舌头比身体还长，是舔食蚂蚁的绝好工具。

如今，经过人类多年保护措施，熊猫已不再属于濒危物种，让我们人人奉献出一点对动物的关爱，利用社交媒体的宣传，多多关注这一奇特的、饱受误解的动物。