more about pangolins

I introduced the subject of pangolins a few days ago when scientist in China pointed to them as the possible source of the Coronavirus that'a spreading through China.  I was surprised to learn this morning that today is World Pangolin Day.  I never knew they were famous enough to have their own day.  I haven't taken time to find out how many of them there are in the world or which countries they populate but evidently there are quite a few.  One reporter said that over 500,000 of them are poached annually for their meat and scales. On the other hand, a zoo in the US is being praised as one of the few zoos in the world that have been able to breed pangolins in captivity. So far they have had nine births.  I'm happy for the zoo but 500,000 to 9 doesn't seem like very good odds to me.  Now the new concern is that, because of the virus threat, people will just kill them in hopes of preventing the spread of the disease or for fear that it will keep spreading. Their main form of defense, rolling up in a tight, hard shelled ball, is evidently a good defense against lions but not a great defense against humans.  Poor misunderstood and misguided pangolins.  I just got curious enough to google pangolins.  Turns out you can buy 'save the pangolin' teeshirts or donate $55 to 'adopt' a pangolin.