Do you know that Pangolin is the most trafficked animal in the world?

Pangolins are shy, harmless animals that have an armor of scales and long, sticky tongues to slurp up ants and termites. Apparently they also inspired the creation of the popular Pokémon Sandshrew. When threatened they curl into a ball instead of attempting to escape, an unfortunate trait for a species facing dire threats from pangolin-collecting humans.

The creatures are hunted for bush meat, but more often they’re poached to supply demand for their scales in Vietnam and China, where new wealth has led to demand for the parts of rare, exotic animals. Some people in these countries consider pangolin meat a delicacy and use their scales in traditional medicine. There’s even a dish called pangolin fetus soup, thought to enhance a man’s virility.

All eight pangolin species are being killed at alarming rates. Many of the nations they inhabit have some laws protecting them, and CITES restricted their international trade in 1995. Yet according to wildlife experts, almost a million pangolins have been trafficked during the past decade. (Also see “Four Tons of 'Plastics' Discovered to Be Pangolin Scales”)

At first poachers targeted the four species in Asia, but as numbers of those have diminished, the four species in Africa have become targets. No one knows exactly how many pangolins remain, but the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which sets the conservation status of plants and animals, lists all eight species as endangered or threatened with extinction. Pangolins also have to contend with habitat loss and a low reproductive rate: Females produce only one baby a year.

The animal’s scales are simply made from keratin, the same stuff as fingernails and hair, meaning they should have little nutritional value, but practitioners of Chinese medicine believe that they can cure a number of ills. The benefits are thought to arise, in part, from their behaviour in the wild. “The first medical use of pangolin scales was to treat ant stings – because they eat ants,” says Cheng Wenda, a PhD student in Bonebrake’s lab. “And because pangolins dig holes, they believe they can open some blockage in your body.” Perhaps for these reasons, some practitioners claim the scales can improve fertility and that they can even fight cancer.

These beliefs are deeply embedded in the culture, and many residents in Hong Kong continue to follow the ancient recipes – as showed with a recent survey. “We found that 85% of the respondents thought that pangolin scales had medicinal value, even though there is no peer-reviewed evidence for this.”

Most of the imported animals pass through Hong Kong to the rest of China. Its status as a ‘free port’ – a legacy of British occupation – has meant that customs regulations are traditionally lax, and its location makes it an easy route to the nearby Guangdong province, where demand is particularly high.

Unfortunately, wildlife trafficking in Hong Kong does not receive the same attention as other forms of organised crime. “There were 89 cases of pangolin smuggling between 2010 and 2015, and only nine proceeded with prosecution.” Often the penalties amount to a few months in jail, and a fine of a few thousand Hong Kong dollars. Given the value of the goods being traded – worth tens of millions – those penalties are a risk worth taking. “It’s like a business expense.” Alex Hofford, a wildlife campaigner for the charity WildAid who helped to expose Hong Kong’s illegal ivory trade, agrees that the penalties are “shockingly low”. “[The traffickers] know that if they do get caught, it’ll just be a slap on the wrist.”

你知道穿山甲是世界上贩卖得最多的动物吗？

穿山甲是害羞的，无害的动物，有一个鳞片盔甲和长长的粘舌头蚂蚁和白蚁。显然他们也启发了流行的神奇宝贝Sandshrew的创作。当他们受到威胁时，他们会卷入一个球，而不是试图逃跑，这是一个面临来自穿山甲收集人类的可怕威胁的物种的不幸特质。这些动物被追捕布什肉，但更多的时候，他们被挖走，以满足越南和中国的需求，在那里新的财富已经导致对珍稀动物的需求。这些国家的一些人认为穿山甲肉是一种美味，在传统医学中使用它们的比例。甚至有一道菜叫穿山甲胎儿汤，被认为可以提高男人的性能力。所有八种穿山甲物种正以惊人的速度被杀死。它们所居住的许多国家都有一些保护它们的法律，而CITES在1995年限制了它们的国际贸易。然而根据野生动物专家的说法，在过去的十年中，有近一百万的穿山甲被贩运。（另见“四通”塑料“被发现穿山甲秤”）

起初，偷猎者针对亚洲四种物种，但随着数量减少，非洲四种物种成为目标。没有人确切知道有多少穿山甲，但国际自然保护联盟（其中规定植物和动物的保护状况），列出所有八个物种濒临灭绝或威胁。穿山甲还必须应对生境丧失和低繁殖率：女性每年只能生产一个婴儿。

这种动物的鳞片只是由角蛋白制成，与指甲和头发一样，意味着它们应该没有什么营养价值，但是中医学者认为它们可以治愈许多疾病。这些好处被认为部分来自于他们在野外的行为。 Bonebrake实验室博士生Cheng Wenda说：“穿山甲鳞片的第一个医疗用途是治疗蚂蚁叮咬，因为他们吃蚂蚁。 “因为穿山甲挖洞，他们认为他们可以打开你身体的一些障碍。”也许由于这些原因，一些学员声称，规模可以提高生育能力，他们甚至可以对抗癌症。

这些信仰深深扎根于文化之中，许多香港居民继续遵循古老的食谱 - 最近的调查显示。 “我们发现有85％的受访者认为穿山甲量表具有药用价值，尽管没有同行评议的证据。” 大部分进口动物经香港传入中国其他地区。其作为“自由港”的地位 - 这是英国占领的遗产 - 意味着海关法规传统上处于松懈状态，其位置使其成为需求特别高的广东省的一条便捷通道。

不幸的是，香港的野生动物贩卖活动并没有像其他形式的有组织犯罪那样受到关注。 “2010年至2015年间，有89件穿山甲走私案件，只有9人被起诉”，处罚通常是几个月的监禁，罚款几千港元。考虑到交易货物的价值 - 价值数千万 - 这些处罚是值得冒险的。 “这就像一笔生意上的开支。”帮助揭露香港非法象牙贸易的慈善机构WildAid的野生动物活动家Alex Hofford同意惩罚“低得惊人”。 “（贩毒者）知道，如果他们被抓住了，那只会是一个耳光。”