The most amazing animal you've never heard of--the pangolin!!

Meet Marimba, the Pangolin!

What on earth is a pangolin you ask?

Why the most adorable and amazing animal you've probably never heard of.

When someone first mentioned the pangolin and its rarity--it's rapidly disappeared in its home in tropical Asia and Africa--

I honestly thought they either couldn't pronounce penguin or were playing a strange practical joke.

(Random fact for you: their tongues are longer than their bodies!!)

Then I met this lovely lady...and fell in love. Pangolins are amazing and so cool!

Beautiful isn't she?

Her scales are keratin--the same material that people have horrendously hunted rhinos for--and is the only known mammal with this adaption.

Pangolin comes from the Malay word meaning "something that rolls up."

They walk on only their hind legs, holding their front legs (arms?) to their chest.

It was so intriguing to watch, just mezmorizing.

Check out how they balance and walk here:

Unfortunately pangolins have largely disappeared because the Chinese believe their scales have medicinal qualities which has resulted in poaching similar to
 rhino horn poaching and their meat is considered a delicacy.

They classified as an endangered species. There is an international ban on their trade.

Isn't Marimba a beauty and just so interesting? 

Wild is Life is trying hard to do its part and save the few pangolins left in Zimbabwe.

In fact, legally, the president of Zimbabwe owns every pangolin in Zimbabwe and regularly receives reports on their health to help combat their trafficking. The man holding her? He's her handler who is with her every day to ensure no one poaches her.

For more information on pangolins, here's their wikipedia page.

Check out some fun facts about pangolins here!

CNN recently wrote an article on them: "The most trafficked mammal you've never heard of"

(From the article: a pangolin--a rare, scale-covered mammal, about the size of a house cat, that's so bizarre it almost forces your brain to flip through a Rolodex of more-familiar images. It could be described as a walking pine cone or an artichoke with legs- a tiny dinosaur or friendly crocodile. The pangolin possesses none of the cachet of better-known animals that are hot on the international black market. It lacks the tiger's grace, the rhino's brute strength. If they pangolin went to high school, it would be the drama geek--elusive, nocturnal, rarely appreciated, and barely understood. When it's frightened, it actually curls up into a roly-poly ball. The pangolin could go extinct before most people realize it exists. Or, more to the point: it could go extinct because of that."

Spread the news about pangolins--let's make sure everyone knows about how awesome they are!

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Wild is Life!

Why, hello, Sweetpea the Kudu!

While visiting Wild is Life in Harare, Zimbabwe, we had afternoon tea with this lovely animal (she's partial to strawberries....)

How's this for a sign?? Probably best to keep your fingers away from lions...

Wild is Life rescues animals who have been orphaned (due to poaching), are ill, or who would otherwise have been killed.

This beauty promptly walked past..see? The sign has some good advice!

Wild is Life has several lions including one that is blind and one that is missing some teeth (making him unable to survive in the wild).

I instantly fell in love with the premises, so easy to get lost among its beauty.

So easy to forget you're in Harare.

I couldn't resist a second shot, I mean, just look at those flowers!

Mirabelle the Giraffe waiting for afternoon tea.

A boat as a swinging seat? Emphatic yes please!

Sweetpea the Kudu--aren't her stripes just lovely?

Wild is Life has also rescued Levi and Diesel, the cheetahs, from poachers who killed their parents.

For more information on the work that Wild is Life is doing, please visit them here.

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The Imire Sable

While visiting Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe, we came across these beauties.

Sables, of the antelope family, are becoming rarer and rarer.

They are absolutely beautiful to watch, very regal.

Why, hello, sable!

A zebra at Imire.

Zimbabwe is covered with just so many stunningly beautiful trees.

For some reason, our ride at Imire struck me as particularly hilarious.

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The Imire Elephant: Matriarch of the African Buffalos

Some of the elephants at the Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe.

One of the elephants eating.  It's amazing how powerful they are, taking down trees.

Hi, elephant tush!

A baby elephant.  Still my favorite of all the animals, how can you not just love a baby elephant?

Imire has an elephant who is rather famous for her 'identity crisis.'

Nzou is the matriarch of this herd of African Buffalo.  That's right, she's the head of a herd of African Buffalo.

When Nzou first arrived at Imire, she was placed with a bull elephant within the only large herd Imire a had at the time---a buffalo herd.  By the time the bull elephant died, Nzou had immersed herself so completely within the buffalo herd that she became distressed when Imire tried to move her to the elephant herd they had obtained.  The buffalo also became visibly unsettled by her absence.

When I visited, fourteen male African Buffalo had challenged Nzou for head of the herd over the past 30 years---she won every time.

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The Imire Giraffe

The giraffe at the Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe.

Watching a giraffe eat is just so cool!

Isn't she beautiful?

Giraffes always make me think of my wonderful niece who loves, loves, loves giraffes!

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The Imire Rhinos

One of the rhinos at the Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe.

Rhinos are heavily poached throughout Africa, especially in southern Africa, for their horns.

Some Asian cultures believe the horns have healing and aphrodisiac powers (they don't.) which has sky rocketed

the black market price for the horns and lead to many rhinos being killed unnecessarily.

One way to try and avoid poaching is to file down their horns to make them less of a target as Imire as done.

This rhino's mother was killed by poachers when he was a month old.  He survived by hiding under his mother's body.

National Geographic did a documentary on him as he grew up in the Imire garden and became friends with the warthogs.
It's called something like The Rhino in the Garden... 

For more information on efforts to save rhinos.

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