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In the picture find Stevie – a pangolin very busy with his daily chores, who is either hunting for his insect food or taking long clay baths and playing with everything he finds on his daily walks in Africa. South.
“He really likes to play with stones, tree branches and even tree trunks,” says his caregiver Sarah Kempen, at the Wildlife Veterinary Hospital in Johannesburg.
“He gathers the ball with the elements of his game, which are usually small piles of mud and water, where insects also stay,” she says.
Stevie, is a Temminck pangolin, rescued by illegal hunters in Pretoria when he was just a baby. When activists found Stevie, he was underweight and ill after being separated from his mother.
Hunters kill their pangolins which are valued in Asian folk medicine while their meat is also considered a delicacy.
“As one of the most trafficked mammals in the world, their lives are in danger, so we have set up a special clinic for them, away from veterinary medicine.”
Upon arriving at the center, Stevie’s health improved and he quickly began to gain weight.
“Since coming here he has gained 4 kilograms, and now he can hunt for insects himself. “When he first came, we only fed him baby milk,” adds Sarah.
Mud bath is behavior similar to all species;
Since Stevie was separated as a child from his mother the staff taught him to do different natural behaviors of his species, but one thing they did not need to learn were the mud baths.
“Once he finds a pool of water and clay, he starts spinning in it,” says Kempen. “It seems to refresh him or enable him to resist longer with his food, as the weather gets too hot.”
“Pangolins are known for their mud baths. We believe this is not just about refreshing but also protecting against parasites, ”she adds as Stevie prepares for the wildlife re-release process in a protected reserve.
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