7 ways to celebrate World Pangolin Day

I kinda hate that there’s a “day” for everything, these days. Friday, for example, was simultaneously Love Your Pet Day, Cherry Pie Day and Handcuff Day (apparently celebrating the 1912 patenting of the “de facto restraint of law enforcement agencies worldwide”), according to DaysOfTheYear.com, a website I’m embarrassed to be citing.

But there’s one of these odd “days” I feel compelled to embrace.

Saturday is the fourth annual World Pangolin Day.

Never heard of the pangolin? It’s a rare, scale-covered mammal. About the size of a house cat, the notoriously shy pangolin rolls up in a ball to protect itself, like a roly-poly. It can fend off lions in this manner, but not poachers. They just pluck these critters out of the jungle and toss them into sacks. Pangolin meat and scales are quite valuable on the black market. So much so that the pangolin is thought to be the most trafficked mammal in the world. If any creature needs the publicity a “day” can provide, it’s the pangolin.

I traveled to Vietnam and Indonesia last year to document the illegal pangolin trade for a story CNN.com readers commissioned as part of my Change the List series. I’d never heard of the pangolin when I started reporting that piece, but I’ve got a soft spot for these creatures now. I’ll be among the hopefully hundreds or thousands of people around the world on Saturday who will do just some little thing to honor these introverted underdogs — and to try to help protect them by bringing them a little more celebrity. I’ve argued the pangolin needs a PR campaign to survive, and World Pangolin Day is just the kind of effort that could help ensure their continued existence.

With that in mind, here are seven ways you can celebrate with me:

1. Binge watch pangolin videos on YouTube

7. Teach your kids about the pangolin

I rarely meet adults who know about pangolins — that is, unless they have young kids. Children are so much more curious about and engaged with the natural world, and, if my friends’ kids are a barometer, a growing number of them seem to be learning about the pangolin in school. I’d encourage you to talk with your kids about the pangolin — see what they know and what they don’t. If your kids are little, read “Roly Poly Pangolin” to them. Save Pangolins co-founder Keri Parker suggested kids (or adults, whatever …) try out this pangolin coloring sheet. Parker also recommended parents make ant-shaped cookies with their children in honor of the pangolin’s ant-based diet.

Whatever you do, please let me know about it!

You can leave a comment at the bottom of this page — or shoot me a note on Twitter. I’ll retweet some of the most creative pangolin tributes. (Especially if you get a tattoo). And thank you for caring about this awesome and underappreciated animal.

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