pangolin

What kind of social-insect-eating mammal is stranger than a numbat? Well, a pangolin, for one. From The Life of Mammals. For more on the pangolin's prey, check out one of the newest additions to the ScienceBlogs family, Myrmecos.
The natural world is rife with leftovers. Over the course of evolution, body parts that no longer benefit their owners eventually waste, away leaving behind shrivelled and useless anatomical remnants. The human tailbone is one such example. Others include the sightless eyes of cavefish that live in total darkness, the tiny spurs on boas and pythons that hint at the legs of their ancestors, and the withered wings of the Galapagos cormorant, an animal that dispensed with flight on an island bereft of land predators. Animal genomes contain similar remains. Just like organs, genes also waste…
tags: pangolin, animals, photography, subway art, AMNH, NYC, NYCLife I think this is a species of pangolin, Manis species, as portrayed in tiles on the walls of the NYC uptown subway stop (A-B-C) at 81st and Central Park West. (ISO, no zoom, no flash). Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [wallpaper size]. Read more about the AMNH tile artworks and see the AMNH tile artworks photographic archives -- with all the animals identified.
Wildlife officials from Southeast Asia met in Cisarua, Indonesia this week to discuss cross-border animal smuggling. Chief among their concerns was the rapid growth in pangolin trafficking. Scaled mammals with long, sticky, extendable tongues (up to 16"), Pangolins were once grouped with anteaters but recent DNA testing has shown that they are most likely a distinct group. Unfortunately for the pangolin, the Chinese prize their meat as a delicacy and believe their scales have medicinal properties, including reducing swelling, improving blood circulation and helping breast feeding women…