REPORTAGE – The small mammal is said to be one of the amplifying hosts of Covid-2019 in China. Until now little known to the general public, it is also the most poached animal in the world.
“Coronavirus: the pangolin would be the guilty animal”, could we read recently in the headlines of the French and international press. Guilty. A very quick sentence. And which, above all, to date has not been supported by any conclusive evidence from the scientific community. However, it will have had merit. That of putting in the spotlight an animal hitherto unknown to the general public. A mammal which, although it is the most poached species in the world, has never received the same attention as rhinos, elephants, tigers, lions or giraffes.
On its famous red list of endangered species, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) places all types of pangolins at the “critical danger” or “vulnerable” level. The scale pholidote, of which there are eight different subspecies in the world distributed between southern Asia and Africa, is also perfectly harmless.
The pangolin at the origin of the coronavirus?
Suited for its flesh as for its scales
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