Governments Vote to Ban the Sale of World’s Most Trafficked Mammal

The international body that governs wildlife trade voted this week to ban the sale of pangolins, an aardvark-like animal that is currently the most heavily trafficked mammal in the world. Pangolins are found across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and are sought after for their meat and scales, the latter of which are believed by some in East Asia to have medicinal purposes. Pangolins are shy, cat-sized mammals that eat ants and termites, and when threatened they curl into a ball rather than defending themselves. Nearly one million pangolins have been trafficked in the past decade, according to National Geographic. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has listed all eight species of pangolin as endangered or threatened with extinction.