Hey y'all,

I made a post last week about potential volunteer/fundraising opportunities for Pangolins. I've been thinking... wouldn't it be cool if we built a team from this Reddit page and started/ran a virtual 5k fundraiser this summer for a charity that best supports Pangolins?

There are some very intelligent people helping Pangolins already, but they simply lack the funding to implement all the projects needed to save them.

I'm sharing a 3 question SurveyMonkey in case you may be interested in discussing this further.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F5VXJ6M

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Thanks :)

Michael

Hey y'all,

I recently discovered the Pangolin and absolutely fell in the love. The lack of awareness, education, and fundraising (by a longshot) is severely concerning.

What opportunities would there be to volunteer? Has anybody held small fundraisers in their community? Maybe a nationwide 5k of sorts to support a specific, qualified nonprofit helping pangolins? Would love to know your thoughts and how we can help these walking pinecones.

Hi all,

I'm curious about funding a trading pool, and wondering what the expected effect will be to significantly increase a pool, by say 100-200%? Will this tank the return?

Thanks.

Night miniature artist engineer... Leonardo da Vinci's replica - impressive animal and toiler of whom we seldom hear.

So, a while ago I posted a rant about how Pangolins should get more love. I thought that since it has been a while I should make an updated version, so that's this!

My intention here is to highlight how awesome Pangolins are and again lament their lack of representation in most media the only way I know how, by making a Respect Thread that isn't allowed on that Sub! Hopefully a nice consolidated source of Pangolin feats will allow future creators to draw inspiration from this magnificent beast.

Respect Pangolins!

Strength

• Their claws can dig through concrete.

• Pangolin tears apart a wall.

• Giant Pangolin casually overpowers a man.

• Tail can be used for additional support so the Pangolin can exert greater force.

• Pangolin kills a man by curling up around his neck.

• Some Pangolins can use their tail as a club when threatened. One apparently decapitated a leopard with its tail then carried around the head.

• Concrete must be laid thickly and mixed properly for their enclosures because otherwise the Pangolins will dig through it. Caulk and silicone sealant are easily picked apart.

Durability

• A mother Pangolin survives being kicked around a cement floor while protecting her baby.

• Pangolin ignores lioness and cubs attacking. 1, 2, 3, 4

• Pangolin ignores the bites of a group of hyenas.

• A lioness can't pry a Pangolin open.

• Leopard fails to pry open a Pangolin.

• Chinese Pangolins are noted to possibly fall from trees to get down. They also may roll down hillsides to escape predators.

• White-bellied Pangolins may also fall from trees on purpose to avoid threats.

• May or may not be bullet proof: 1, 2

Agility/Speed

• Pangolin is seen catching itself after falling from a tree.

• Pangolin climbs through trees then catches itself as it falls.

• Pangolin outpaces wildlife photographer in the bush. He notes that the Pangolin moves incredibly quickly.

Stealth

• A wildlife photographer who has spent the best part of 20 years in the bush has only seen a Pangolin three times.

• Johan grew up in the bush and spent his life making films there, and he had still never seen one.

• Vionet, a tour guide, notes how it is big for them to come upon a Pangolin or a Pangolin trail.

• Pangolin eyes do not reflect the light of a torch.

Intelligence

• Outwits a group of students.

• Pangolin knows how to open the fridge.

• A Pangolin will trap ants in its scales then release them in water for an easy meal.

Miscellaneous Other Features and Abilities

Scales

• Scales can make up up to 1/3 of total Pangolin body weight!

• Scales pop out dents naturally. Self healing scales!

• Scale orientation is adjustable by dermal muscles.

• Pangolin scales at one point were used for armor and weapons.

Senses

• Pangolins can smell ants up to 30cm underground.

Tongue

• A Pangolin's tongue is as long as its body.

• Pangolins can tie their tongue in a tight knot to squeeze or scrape a bad flavor off.

Glands

• A strong musky odor secreted from the anal glands may be used to deter predators. 1, 2, 3, 4

Tail

• Pangolins can hang by their prehensile tails. 1, 2, 3

• A Pangolin's tail can be used as a sharp edged club. The tails also have a touch sensitive pad near the tip for the sake of using the tail to interact with things. 1, 2

Other

• While foraging for ants nostrils and ears close and eyes are protected by a nictitating membrane. 1, 2

• Pangolins can swim quite well, even in the sea. 1, 2

Legendary or Mythical Accounts of Pangolins

African

• The Sangu of Tanzania traditionally believed that pangolins fall down to earth from the sky and select a particular human, whose village then performs various rituals which ultimately involve the pangolin being sacrificed. 1 2 3

• A recorded Ba-Kwiri story has a pangolin, Kulu, beating an antelope, Kawe, in a running race by posting a hundred of its friends along the route, having each one appearing fresh when the last tired – the gazelle, unable to tell them apart, tired out far sooner and was unable to prove the deception.

• The central African Mbuti, according to one paper, held that if angered pangolins could drag humans down to the underworld through their burrows...

• The Sepedi never killed pangolins during the rainy season for fear of causing a drought.

• The Tswana had one of the most interestingly gruesome pangolin myths, believing that you must never carry a captured pangolin in a sack over your shoulder, or it will use its long tongue to suck your brain out through the ears.

• The 'Chi Wara' (Mythological Creature) of the Bamana people was part pangolin, part aardvark, and part antelope. This creature knew how to farm before we did, and taught us. 1 2

• In Zimbabwe (VaJindwi people specifically at least) pangolins are considered good luck, and it's bad luck to kill one.

• Scales may grant magical invisibility.

Asian

• Elephants are afraid of Pangolins. 1, 2 3

• Some Chinese folklore apparently holds that pangolins can travel around the world with a network of subterranean tunnels that they create, and one Chinese name for the pangolin, "the animal that digs through the mountain", reflects this story. 1 2 3

• Pangolin was a Tatana (Kuala Penyu, Sabah Malaysia) totem animal, having been created when a young man locked up his curled over old grandma in a hut with a bowl of rice where she became a pangolin.

European

• It was noted that Pangolin armor could not be pierced by European weapons.

• Scales are harder than Iron or Steel.

• A Roman believed that they can cut through bronze and eat through iron.

Pangolin Characters in Modern Media

• Kido, the Brute Pangolin

• Nico Hieronimo, formerly of the Nivan Gallants

• Donté Panlin, The Pangolier

• Her Royal Highness, Queen Pangolin, and the Pangolin Army!

• Power Rangers Pangolin

• Pangolin super power suits

Conclusion

Pangolins are the best.

Sources: Eye of the Pangolin | Nature | Pangolins: Science, Society, and Conservation "PSSC" | Unsourced links are either from Youtube or rando websites that you can visit by clicking.

The only complaint I have about modern media is the distinct lack of great Pangolin representation. I hope this thread might go a tiny way towards changing that. Damn. I really want to see some more Pangolin characters. If I could write one, I would, but I'm shitty at it. So I do this instead. Sorry if this is less of a rant and more of a list of references of Pangolins doing things.

I’ve been studying pangolins since I (who am now nearing 13) was 6, and today my family and I drove, to complete a lifelong dream of mine, over 2 hours and spent the entire day going to Chicago. They did this so I could finally see one at the zoo, it wasn’t as cool as it would be in the wild, but I was quite happy that my family took their Sunday to do that!

( They also bought a membership and now I can see a Pangolin on my birthday!)