Sunday, December 20, 2009

What's a pangolin?

WHEN? Probably never except by armchair

WHERE? Borneo rainforest

The first thing I saw today when I turned on the computer was a Yahoo News article about pangolins. I had never heard of such an animal. My curiosity led me to several websites, but the one I just had to share with you was a excellent video of a Malayan or Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) in a Borneo rainforest. With a little imagination, you can pretend you are right there in the rainforest.



There is another video on YouTube from National Geographic you may want to view entitled What in the World is a Pangolin?.

You also might need some help, as I did, on where Borneo is. Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Borneo is surrounded by the South China Sea to the north and northwest, the Sulu Sea to the northeast, the Celebes Sea and the Makassar Strait to the east and the Java Sea and Karimata Strait to the south. The island of Borneo is divided administratively into 3 parts, the only island in the world that is a recognized part of 3 countries:

  1. The Indonesian provinces of East, South, West and Central Kalimantan
  2. The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak (the Federal Territory of Labuan is located on nearshore islands of Borneo, but not on the island of Borneo itself)
  3. The independent country of Brunei (main part and eastern exclave of Temburong)
I found the above information at Borneo in Wikipedia.

3 comments:

  1. Also check out the website with tons of info on pangolins and their conservation: http://savepangolins.org

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gotta have one of these Save the pangolins T-shirts -- http://www.cafepress.com/savepangolins

    ReplyDelete
  3. Before reading this, I would've guess that a pangolin is an obscure stringed musical instrument. I really enjoyed the video. What an unusual creature!

    ReplyDelete