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Café Scientifique: The Pittsburgh Pangolins and the Mission to Save an Endangered Species from Extinction

Date:
Monday, July 2, 2018
Time:
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location:
Carnegie Science Center

FREE EVENT

Pangolins are amongst the most evolutionarily primitive mammals and the only mammal with scales. Their enormous appetite for ants and termites means that they serve a major role in ecosystems to control insects. Shy, solitary and mostly nocturnal, they are only recently beginning to be studied and understood. However, humanity’s voracious consumption of pangolin scales and meat has led them to be declared the most illegally poached and trafficked animal in the world. All pangolin species are rapidly being driven to extinction, yet most people don’t even know what a pangolin is.

Join Ken Kaemmerer, Curator of Mammals at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, for a presentation on how a consortium of zoos developed a small population of African white-bellied tree pangolins from Togo. Over a 30-year career at five zoos, he has been involved with most major mammal groups from elephants to naked mole rats and everything in between. Most recently, he has helped direct the animal care program and facilitated research with the rare and endangered African white-bellied pangolins acquired by the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

 

Food and drinks will be available for purchase.

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