pangolin

CRITICALLY Endangered

POPULATION

Unknown and declining rapidly.

Over a million pangolins have been taken from the wild in the last decade alone.

THE THREAT

Pangolins are the most trafficked wild mammal on Earth.

All eight species are threatened with extinction. They are hunted for their scales - made of keratin, the same material as our fingernails - which are used in traditional medicine despite having no proven medicinal value. They are also killed for meat. Their defence mechanism, curling into a ball, protects them from every predator except one.

about this painting

“Most people have never even heard of a pangolin. That’s part of what makes this the most heartbreaking painting in the series. An armour that took millions of years to evolve, completely useless against the one thing killing it. I painted this because something that extraordinary shouldn’t be disappearing in silence.”

THE HOPE

International trade in pangolins has been banned since 2016. Organisations including the Pangolin Crisis Fund and The Pangolin Project are working across range states to strengthen enforcement, reduce demand, and protect wild populations.

LEARN MORE

→ pangolincrf.org

→ savepangolins.org

Art is the lens. Conservation is the reason.

Defenceless against the one predator that threatens them most;

humans.