Happy World Pangolin Day :DD !
Pangolins, as some of you may know, are an animal near and dear to my heart and one even starred in my college final-year animation short film. They're also known as 'scaly anteaters' (though they are no relation), and defend themselves by curling into a ball with the scaly armour on the outside - the name comes from the Malay word 'pengguling' meaning 'to roll up'. They're also very endangered because this defense mechanism isn't all that effective against humans.
The folks at Little Fireface Project - a slow loris rehabilitation effort - have been showing their support for pangolins by posting cute pictures of lorises and pangolins on their facebook page, so I thought I'd include some lorises in my tribute too. Both animals are severely threatened by illegal wildlife trade (and in the loris' case, the pet trade as well - think twice about the 'cute loris' videos you see all over youtube). They are also both native (well... one species of pangolin at least) to my region of the world - Southeast Asia.
It's amazing what people are doing to help these animals and I encourage you to check out both Little Fireface and Project Pangolin to follow them in their work, and find out ways that you can help too! At some point in the future I would love to organize a fundraising effort, some kind of art sale probably.
