The pangolin

When I was a younger zookeeper, recklessly enamored with a black Finn,
I once saw a man carrying a dead pangolin on a stretch of forested highway in western Cameroon. I believe it was dead, although I couldn't be sure through the haze of the red dust kicked up from the unpaved road.

It was a tragic moment that shocked me from my afternoon reverie. To see the pangolin, the humble prince of the Pholidota order, soon to become part of a delicious stew was a sad image.
I always fancied myself as similar to the pangolin and it reminded me of my own mortality.

We both have no teeth and long tongues and both the pangolin and I will curl up into a protective ball when challenged. And although we share the ability to emit a noxious smell from our anus, I do not typically do so when predators approach.

If you'd like to see a pangolin in person, I would suggest the following Taiwanese locales:
1. The Taipei Zoo
2. Ticino restaurant on Tien Mou east road(order the fondue).

For the budding zookeepers in the home audience, the following items are necessary if raising a pangolin at home:
1. Shade trees
2. Bowl of water
3. Cathedral mound of African termites(about 300 pounds of mound+termites will suffice for one month of food)
4. TLC