Baby pangolin

Behold the incredible cuteness of this newborn pangolin (aka scaly anteater) at the Taipei Zoo. Video below. More details at Laughing Squid.

baby Pangolin

Many animals have no bones; instead they wear their skeleton on the outside, where it also serves as armor. So why do humans have their bones on the inside, leaving their soft flesh exposed and unprotected? Exoskeletons, or outer skeletons, are great for small animals, like insects. But on larger animals, heavy armor makes it hard to move. One evolutionary solution is to replace big, heavy plates of armor with small, flexible plates or scales. Photo: Maria Diekmann, from @pbsnature

Unless your job is directly related to discovering, studying, or tending to exotic wildlife, it is safe to say that most of the time, you only see unique animals on TV. The thing is, there is way, way more to discover, and that’s the good news! With hundreds of thousands of species inhabiting our planet, there will always be a new friend to meet and learn about.

The pangolin, only about a month old when rescued, has been named Hope

Pangolin with young one

A new paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution, published by Oxford University Press, for the first time provides a comprehensive set of genomic resources for pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, that researchers believe will be integral for protecting these threatened mammals. Pangolin

Baby pangolin. Photographer unknown.

Oct 16, 2020 - The Awwducational community on Reddit. Reddit gives you the best of the internet in one place.