The pangolin is one of the world’s most unusual animals—and one of the most heavily poached.

An adult pangolin is 3 to 5 feet long and eats some 70 million ants and termites a year, using a tongue that’s longer than its body, covered in sticky saliva.

It burrows into termite mounds and anthills and can close its ears and nostrils to keep angry ants at bay.

That may sound like an anteater or an aardvark. Except, the pangolin is completely covered in scales. It’s the only mammal that has them.

These scales are made of keratin, just like our fingernails. A single pangolin could have more than a thousand, making up 20 percent of its body weight.

Pangolins roll into a ball when threatened—the sharp edges of their scales providing extra protection, even against lions.

But that’s not enough to keep human predators away.

The pangolin’s scales are valued in Asian folk medicines, even though they’ve been proven to be no more medicinal than an old toenail.

Their meat is eaten in Asia as a delicacy. Even their blood is considered an aphrodisiac.

So, poachers catch and kill them, which has made all eight species critically endangered or vulnerable.

In the last 10 years, customs agents have confiscated literally tons of pangolin scales, which came from more than 1 million animals.

World Pangolin Day is February 15. You probably don’t buy pangolin products yourself, but raising awareness for this remarkable, gentle animal can support its protection.