It’s World Pangolin Day today, but will they become extinct soon?

A pangolin carries its baby at a zoo in Bali, Indonesia.

A pangolin is captured from the wild, either to be killed or sold, every five minutes in the world. In fact, they are the most smuggled animal in the world, and Malaysia has a share in this “distinction”.

The word “pangolin” actually comes from the Malay word “pengguling”, or “something that rolls up”. They are sometimes mistaken as reptiles but are actually scaly-skinned mammals.