Conceptual Image With Bat Used For Food In A Can Representing The Wet Markets In China That Have Spread The Covid-19 Virus Around Stock Photo

Prized in China as a delicacy and for the purported medicinal virtues of their scales, pangolins are said to be the most trafficked mammal in the world. Smuggled pangolins have been found to carry viruses closely related to the one sweeping the world.Scientists say the sale of the animals in wildlife markets should be strictly prohibited to minimise the risk of future outbreaks. Pangolins are the most-commonly illegally trafficked mammal, used both as food and in traditional medicine.nIn research published in the journal Nature, researchers say handling these animals requires `caution`. And they say further surveillance of wild pangolins is needed to understand their role in the risk of future transmission to humans.