In this episode, we discuss the pangolin, their incredible abilities, their bizarre anatomy, and the terrible threats to their existence. We also discuss the coronavirus pandemic. Come join us for an unusually grim episode of Species.
Summary
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I want you to imagine a scene from several months ago. Imagine a pangolin in a filthy cage in a blood-stained |
| 0:08.9 | wet market. Imagine they sit alone, afraid, unable to turn around, awaiting their destiny, |
| 0:17.5 | likely to become a high-status meal for a wealthy individual, or be converted into a medicine that won't even work. |
| 0:27.6 | This animal is, by all appearances, living one of the least important, least meaningful, least consequential lives it is possible to live. |
| 0:43.7 | Imagine, for a moment, if in your one chance on earth, you found yourself starving in a cage |
| 0:50.2 | on death row surrounded by other exotic animals getting killed in front of you while you wait for |
| 0:56.4 | your turn to come. This scene, this scene of this random animal, this random pangolin, this scene |
| 1:03.7 | played out in or around Wuhan, China. And this small, seemingly insignificant being may have been one of the most important |
| 1:15.3 | creatures in history, because they were the one to pass the lethal baton, labeled COVID-19, |
| 1:25.5 | to our species. |
| 1:35.5 | Unbeknownst to them, they were the host to a soon-to-be global pandemic that would unleash economic and emotional chaos, |
| 1:41.0 | human suffering at an appalling scale, |
| 1:43.6 | and force entire societies to come to a screeching halt. |
| 1:50.6 | This tiny life, this degraded pangolin, would change human history. |
| 1:58.1 | This animal was a member of one of the most interesting species on the planet, the most heavily trafficked mammal on Earth, |
| 2:07.7 | a being that was until recently little known and now forever unforgettable. |
| 2:15.6 | The pangolin, Manus Javnika. |
| 2:19.4 | Today, in an unusual episode, we are going to be talking about the animal and the disease. |
| 2:28.3 | I'm Mackin. This is species. |
| 2:37.2 | Welcome. |
| 2:38.4 | You may have noticed that this episode is longer than almost any I've recorded. |
| 2:43.2 | That is because I'm going to be passing on some information to you about the new coronavirus that I hope most of you already know. I don't necessarily think kids |
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