Our Neighbors – Deceased Pangolin
The pangolin is an ant-eating mammal with keratin scales all over its body – the only keratin-coated mammal there is. They are toothless nocturnal creatures that can curl themselves into tight balls. Sort of southeast Asia’s answer to the armadillo. I’ve seen pictures and sculptures of these creatures, but didn’t really believe they existed in Singapore until this morning. Unfortunately the specimen I saw this morning was roadkill. So I’ve pasted in a picture of a live pangolin from the Wiki page, and below are two pictures of the deceased one I saw today. It’s not messy, but it’s definitely deceased, so don’t scroll down if you find that upsetting. But if you find it interesting, you’ll see that there’s a ribbon tied around it: I think the gardeners found it on the road yesterday, moved it to the verge and tied the ribbon to it to help the roadkill disposal people find it.
