In Times of Coronavirus, we have learned a lot of new things. We have not only learned about epidemiology (serology, cohort studies), pharmacology (chlorquine, remdesivir and Clorox), and mathematics (peaks and exponential curves). We have also learned more about zoology, particularly about bats, snakes, and pangolins.
Most of us already know a little about snakes because of the Garden of Eden and the serpentarium of the city zoo. As for bats, we know that they hang upside down in caves, fly around on Halloween, and proliferate in Dracula films.
However, before Covid-19, we had never really given much thought to pangolins. In fact, if we had happened to come across a pangolin while buying toilet paper in CostCo, we would probably have mistaken it for a quirky sort of iguana or anteater.
Pangolins have never been in the Top Ten cuddly animal list. I cannot remember any of my children ever asking me to buy them a pet pangolin for Christmas (and they have asked me for some pretty weird stuff).
Pangolins are covered in scales made of keratin (the same stuff as our fingernails). For that reason, they look more like reptiles, but they are really mammals (appearances can be deceiving). In their spare time between sleeping and burrowing, pangolins love to snack on ants, termites, and larvae, which they pick up with their long sticky tongue.
They pretty much keep to themselves, but when they feel threatened, they quickly roll themselves up into a tight ball. (After a difficult day at work, this is something that many of us can relate to.)
Sadly, the pangolin happens to be one of the most trafficked animals in Asia. Though protected under national and international laws, it has become an endangered species since its predisposition to non-violence makes it easy prey for greedy poachers. In high demand in China and Vietnam, its meat is considered a great delicacy.
Pangolin scales are also used in Chinese traditional medicine. They are roasted, cooked in oil, butter, vinegar, or boy's urine to cure things like hysterical crying in children, malarial fever, deafness, and women possessed by devils and ogres.
Aside from these uses, pangolins are basically a mystery. Little is known about their habits and social activities because no one has ever been sufficiently interested to study them.
This has never bothered pangolins very much since they are solitary and secretive animals, thriving on anonymity. They generally spend their days sleeping (like my oldest son as a teenager) and their nights foraging for food and digging their burrow.
Nevertheless, now everything has suddenly changed. The bucolic life once enjoyed by pangolins throughout the world has come to an abrupt end. In the last three months, this nocturnal introvert of the animal kingdom has been forced into the spotlight and has become suddenly (in)famous.
This fate was certainly not of the pangolin’s choosing. Perish the thought. As reflected in newscasts all over the world, pangolins made the headlines because they were initially blamed for spreading Covid-19 and involuntarily creating the interspecies jump necessary for the coronavirus to infect humans.
This all happened because scientists (in contrast to conspiracy theorists) found that the virus originated in animals and at some point, jumped to humans. In their quest to find the culprit, some researchers now believe that pangolins (as opposed to snakes and bats) finally served as the hosts that transmitted the coronavirus to people and caused the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The pangolin has greatly suffered from this negative publicity and its public image has undergone significant deterioration. If pangolins ever decided to mobilize, there are even sufficient grounds for a class action suit.
Previously, in the occasional Google search, the pangolin only came up as an exotic species in danger of extinction, who has a yearly consumption of 70 million ants. But now for the last few months, the pangolin has been mercilessly slandered as an evil member of the animal kingdom, who, along with its sidekick, the perfidious bat, has wreaked death and destruction on the human race.
Fortunately, pangolin publicity has now taken a turn for the better, and things are looking up. (No misfortune can last forever.) After laboring under the heavy burden of undeserved blame for the last two months, the pangolin is now on the verge of redemption.
Initially regarded as the most ignominious of villains, the pangolin has suddenly morphed into the ultimate superhero. According to a recent study, the pangolin genome may be able to provide answers to the problem of how to successfully deal with Covid-19.
For a while now, researchers have been intrigued by the fact that despite being a carrier of the coronavirus, the pangolin seems to tolerate it quite well. At least, to date, no one has observed a pangolin attached to a ventilator.
The reason for this immunity is that, oddly enough, the pangolin genome does not have two of the genes needed to detect the entry of viruses into the body. In other mammals (including ourselves), these signaling genes act like a kind of smoke detector and begin ringing an alarm bell to alert our immune system to the threat of dangerous viral intruders.
The fact that pangolins have no need of these virus defense mechanisms, and have been living quite blissfully for millions of years without them means that they are pretty cool animals. Furthermore, evolution has given them insights into survival that we evidently need to learn more about.
The bad news is that researchers have no clue as to how pangolins manage to carry all this off. They are only certain that their immunity to Covid-19 is related somehow to the absence of these genes, but don’t know how this mechanism works.
So, the plan is to try and discover how pangolins manage to survive viral infections (including the coronavirus) without these two signaling genes that other mammals, such as ourselves, are so in need of.
These results have changed the pangolin’s life and are a win-win situation for everyone. It means that the pangolin could show us how to effectively treat Covid-19. In return, Covid-19 may very well save the pangolin by putting an end to pangolin trafficking.
Evidently, because of the pangolin-coronavirus connection, people will not be so willing to buy pangolin products, with the possible exception of the cure for women possessed with demons and ogres. With little or no demand, the illegal trade will no longer be profitable, and poachers will have to look for other prey.
