Happy World Pangolin Day! We are Louise Fletcher, pangolin researcher, and Jason Derry, professor of science communication, here to chat about the world's most trafficked animal. AMA!

What makes it the most trafficked animal? Why is it so sought after?

Louise could probably answer this more thoroughly, but as this BBC article outlines pangolins are most valued for their meat and use in traditional Chinese medicine.

They are also extremely easy to catch, since the pangolin's defense mechanism is to stop moving and curl into a ball. Something that works great against tigers (their scales are nearly impenetrable to a tiger's teeth) but works terribly when it's just some poachers with cloth bags reaching down to pick them up.

i am shocked to the point of incredulity that those little things can survive a tiger's jaws.

Also I have to admit now I'm a little curious how they taste. I will resist though!

The tiger is actually a core part of the plot of our story. It's the first jungle creature the pangolin protagonist Nallie ends up meeting.

I guess when you evolve alongside tigers you end up evolving tiger-resistant defense mechanisms!

Would you rather fight 1 horse sized pangolin or 100 pangolin sized horses?

A horse sized pangolin sounds like a Dark Souls boss. Guess I should git gud.

I learned what I do know about pangolins from watching the Wild Kratts episode with my sons.

Have you seen that episode and did you like it?

I've not seen that episode, but I grew up on shows like that. Kratt's Creatures, Bill Nye, Beakman's World, Brainiac, even Fred Penner's Place.

They don't ever tend to show the data collection part of science, nor the staring at SPSS results and writing papers, but they make science fun and interesting.

People care about what they love, and they love what they know, and they like to know what's fascinating. So I think shows, books, curriculums like this are pretty awesome. I'd guess they are a significant influence into why I'm doing the things I'm doing today.

How did you guys get into researching about pangolins? I'm assuming you both started out as biology students but what was the push towards pangolin research because it sounds like such an interesting type of research

I've always been torn between science, art, writing, and philosophy, so I changed majors frequently. I started out wanting to design video games, then wanted to build robots, study dinosaurs, and through a very long journey ended up with a BA in English of all things, lol. But I still wanted to do something with science so I ended up getting a MA in Environmental Education and studied how children understand and are influenced by media regarding elephants, and a few other animals.

It was then that I discovered I could research and study science communication more broadly. Am currently ABD in a PhD in Communication Studies focused on environmental and science communication and teach full time. The question of science education, nature education, social movements around these, and so forth is particularly fascinating to me.

I met Louise through a mutual colleague who I had met at /r/babyelephantgifs regarding an elephant conservation kid's book. Through my research on media influences on children (and interests in art and writing) I started a children's book company to partner with scientists in teaching science literacy in playful ways.

Looking at the pangolin books out there, most don't represent the species very well at all, putting them into human-like romantic encounters (even the recent Google doodle did this), but the more ecological books read like textbooks. We wanted something playful and fun that represented the species accurately.

Louise has done A LOT more with pangolins than I have, so I'm excited as well to read her response to your question. She just went on a tour through a few US cities working with elementary school kids about pangolins too!

Oh man. That was such a great response. It's so cool how many different studies can just flow into each other to create something unique and beneficial. Really glad to hear that you enjoy what you're doing as well as how you're helping educate about animals such as the pangolin.

Thanks :)

Haha... This reads like my story. I started physics, then engineering, am now considering English or IT.

Gives me hope that there still are cool things out there that I can do and don't even know about.

Cool! Enjoy the journey :)

That one Sunscreen song that was popular in the early 2000s said something like, "Don't be too worried if you don't know what you want to do with your life. Some of the most interesting 30 year olds don't. Some of the MOST interesting 40 year olds still don't."

I'd just also recommend to complete tasks before moving on to the next one. I used to switch before ever finishing anything and I ended up too broad with nothing concrete enough to leverage for work. Gotta pay the bills in between the adventures, after all.

Professor of Sci Comm, creates books for kids, and just quoted my favourite song. Given this (probably quite likely) combination you can expect an email from me at some point :)

Please do. My contact info is easily found online (on my faculty profile and oakenday contact page).

Thank you for this, im also a bit of a mindless student, dont know where to go and such, I love the work you guys are doing and want to get into science communication someday also. I live in Africa and I feel theres just so much I could promote in terms of conservation , animals and science etc. Maybe I can do a short book and email it to you someday? will your reddit account still be active?

Maybe I can do a short book and email it to you someday? will your reddit account still be active?

I do log in from time to time, but feel free to submit queries here: http://www.oakenday.org/contact Look forward to seeing your ideas :)

, I love the work you guys are doing and want to get into science communication someday also

Thanks! And good luck. The better we can communicate and educate about conservation issues, I think the better the planet will be. In my opinion most people are kind and caring, and they just aren't aware of many of the issues out there, or much about who these animals are.

Is there an alternative to pangolin that can be promoted in the traditional Chinese medicine world, considered equivalent in efficacy, so that the pangolin can be spared?

It's keratin. So literally people can just chew their nails. The thing to promote would be education.

Exactly what we are doing right now. Educating the youth too, they are the ones who can drive the change

Someone get Yao Ming on this, STAT!

Yao Ming is doing some great work on elephants for sure. We (meaning Jason and Oakenday) actually did an elephant conservation book a couple years ago with an elephant research assistant who had worked at Think Elephants International in Thailand. We met at /r/babyelephantgifs of all places - because reddit is awesome.

Here's our babyelephantgifs AMA from then if you're interested

I'm a wildlife student about to graduate this May. This is the sort of thing I've always wanted to do, conservatory public education. How did you get to where you are now in your respective roles?

I outlined my story in this response, but there are numerous ways to get into conservation education.

If you like the research side, thinking about what area or animal you're most interested in and then seeking out graduate programs is likely a good idea. You can also do education and campaigns, but will have a primary focus on research. If I recall correctly from our conversations this is what Louise had done.

If you're more interested on the education side, you could try interning or finding work with an animal sanctuary or zoo or nature center. Those would be great ways to "get your feet wet" and make connections. There are also a few grad programs in environmental ed.

I think the best advice I've ever gotten once you know what you want to do is to look at job postings for those positions, and see what they're looking for, and use that as a guide as to how to market yourself. And if you don't have much relevant on your resume yet, then volunteering or interning is a great way to start getting that experience.

And actually, now that I think about it, this is precisely when a lot of nature centers are hiring for their summer staff. Check around your area - might be able to find a nice summer gig for when you graduate.

Have you read Mary Douglas' Purity and Danger, and are you familiar with the Lele pangolin cult? I'm curious if the pangolin was awarded a similar mystical prominence in Asian societies for the same reasons.

I have not read that, but I'm tagging Louise /u/Adelina84 because I want to know the answer to this too!

What animal is the best party animal?

Pandas. Because every party is a pandamonium.

With science and genetics getting as advanced as they have, would either of you be interested in bringing back the ancient giant Pangolin Louise mentioned? I ask both from a "holy shit that's cool" standpoint as well as a moral one. Also how likely would it then into a Jurrasic Park scenario?

Life, uh, finds a way.

Geez Cumberbatch, it's pronounced penguin.

Lol really though, how often do you have people who are entirely confused about what a pangolin is?

Almost every single person I've talked to about pangolins thinks I just have a strange way of saying penguin, lol.

What's the best named pangolin you've encountered?

Nallie, the protagonist of our book
(/shameless plug) ;-)

But - for some behind the scenes info that I don't think anyone knows. In the writing process, Nallie was originally a male named Nall (from the Irish name Niall, meaning champion). But then Louise informed me that males probably wouldn't seek out their families because they don't really pair bond and males are pretty nomadic and solitary, so in the story "Nall" became "Nallie" and the family became her single pango-pup.

Are you releasing this children's book in Vietnam and other places where there is an actual market for these animals? It seems like that is vastly more important, to educate these people.

We're waiting to hear back from a translator actually about commission costs, but it's a very small publishing team. Just me and Louise actually for this entire book project, so things move more slowly. A localized version is definitely in the works though!

That said, here is Louise doing a reading in Malaysia. Here is her doing a reading in North Sumatra.

We're hoping to do more!