World Pangolin Day: These scaly anteaters face extinction in India

New Delhi: Pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters or trenggiling, are extremely in danger of extinction due to poaching and illegal trade of the species.

On the eve of World Pangolin Day, TRAFFIC India - a division of WWF-India – stressed on the need to save these creatures as they face extinction due to mass poaching.

The wildlife body also said that since there is no virtual information available on their population status, the current level of illegal utilisation could have a severe detrimental impact on the future of the pangolins in the wild.

Of the eight species of Pangolin found worldwide (four each in Asia and Africa), two are known from India - Indian Pangolin Manis crassicaudata and Chinese Pangolin Manis pentadactyla.

Unfortunately, these armor-clad mammals are world's most trafficked animal. Their survival are increasingly threatened by illegal trade – both for their meat, which is considered a delicacy among several communities in some countries and their scales, which are used in traditional medicine.

On World Pangolin Day, February 20, conservation groups from across the world are trying to raise awareness about the little-known burrowing mammals, which are considered to be in extreme danger of extinction.