The world’s only truly scaly mammal is being poached to extinction due to unsubstantiated claims of the therapeutic properties of its famed exterior plates. Fact: pangolin scales are made of the same keratin as human hair and finger/toe nails. Over a million of these nocturnal creatures were illegally trafficked over the past decade, largely due to traditional medicinal demands in China.
Of the eight pangolin species in the world, one sub-species can be found here in Taiwan — the Formosan Pangolin. Its behavior and characteristics have been recorded by Taiwanese Indigenous lore, including in these tales by the Kanakanavu, SaySiyat, and Tsou.
Ka ra lomae, the pangolin that burrowed
Pei, a beautiful Kanakanavu woman, was thrown into a mountain ravine by her resentful husband who was agitated by her relentless suitors. Ka ra lomae, the pangolin, heard her wails and burrowed through the depths to reach her. Pei was able to hold onto the pangolin’s tail and the prodigious earthmover tunneled his way back to her village. The story ends with the Kanakanavu people promising to make hunting pangolins for meat a taboo.
The first ‘ae:em
Aomu was a SaySiyat boy who would get upset if things didn’t go the way he wanted. He also liked to sleep in. His parents had a hard time waking their son every morning. One day, tired of being shaken awake by his pa, Aomu threw a fit and rolled under his bed. He then dug down deep into the earth and transformed into a pangolin (‘ae:em). The SaySiyat say that Aomu served as a formidable-looking chair for deities but was eventually banished to the human realm for (inadvertently) causing grievous harm to immortal bums. The animal’s shyness is explained by Aomu feeling sheepish around humans because of his past.
The fireproof hiae moza
Hiae moza, the pangolin, is a trickster in Tsou mythology. The scaly mammal and the wily fox made a bet over who could survive a blazing fire — while the fox stood amid burning silvergrass, the pangolin simply tunneled beneath the inferno and survived. The pangolin splashed water on the flaming fox to save the fox’s life after winning the bet. Variations of this tale include the crow, civet, monkey, and lion (considered a latter rendition since lions are not native to Taiwan) being the subject of the pangolin’s fiery prank.
The pangolin was considered a curious beast worthy of protection by the Japanese colonial authorities, and they set up conservation zones in the prefectures of Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung. Its perceived exoticness landed it on imperial Japanese postcards and publications until 1945.
Today, the pangolin is the world’s only mammal with scales and endangered because of them, although they’re also hunted as bush meat.
Known as 穿山甲 or 鯪鯉 in Taiwan, they are tormented by stray cats and dogs, crushed by human traffic, and faced with environmental degradation and loss of habitat. Remedial measures include animal-crossing street signs, wildlife bridges, a navigation app for avoiding roadkill hotspots, and a world-class breeding program at the Taipei Zoo.
In fact, the world’s first baby pangolin born to a captive mother was a triumphal moment at Taipei Zoo. Fatty, who died 2021 aged 23, was the world’s oldest pangolin raised by humans. He is remembered as a diet recipe-tester and dad to many pangolins at the zoo.
Because of their finicky nature, rescued pangolins often refuse to eat under pressure. They usually die within 100 days of captivity, from stomach ulcers and intestinal bleeding. This led to another Taiwanese invention: “Pangolin cake” — developed by scientists studying their stool to learn their eating habits — comprises bee pupa, mealworm, apple, egg, calcium carbonate, yeast, and desiccated coconut.
Made by blending and steaming all the ingredients in an electric rice cooker, the cake is for adults. Newborns are fed with cat milk or puppy formula. Those who survive stray dogs attacks would often be missing their tails, and Taiwan’s wildlife rehabilitation trainers “walk” these rescued pangolins to help them recover their balance.
Taiwan is now sharing its conservation knowledge with wildlife experts at Prague Zoo, which is home is a pair of Taiwanese pangolins named Run Hou Tang (“Cough Drop”) and Guo Bao (“Fruity Treasure”). The venture — dubbed “pangolin diplomacy” — began with then-Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib’s 2019 Taipei visit, culminating in the birth of the first European “pangopup” in February 2023.
Her name is Šiška, meaning “little pinecone.”
