A Chinese pangolin was captured on camera roaming in Tongbiguan Nature Reserve of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The scale-covered mammal has suffered a drastic population decline due to habitat loss and poaching and is believed to be the most trafficked animal around the world. Most of the eight species are endangered, and Chinese pangolins have been listed as "critically endangered" on the Red List by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A Chinese non-governmental organization on environmental protection claimed in June 2019 that Chinese pangolins were "functionally extinct" on the Chinese mainland. 

In June 2020, it became listed as species under top-class state protection in China, instead of the previous second-class state protection. 

China has also removed pangolins from the list of animals that can be used for preparing traditional Chinese medicine, a major step in the country's wildlife protection efforts.

For more:

China lifts pangolins' protection level to top class

China removes pangolins from traditional Chinese medicine list

Chinese pangolins: Are they functionally extinct?

Save the Pangolin - the dark trade of the endangered animal

Meet pangolin – one of the world's most hunted animals

Behind the coronavirus hosts: Don't let your fear hurt animals

Poaching driving three pangolin species toward extinction: report

Pangolin: the most trafficked mammal in the world

(Cover image via VCG)

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