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Victor - I do believe you are correct. The Zamboni at our local Arena has been driven by a strange looking 'fella' these past few weeks. Could it be a Pangolin???

I thought it was just 'one ugly Canuck'.

LG

Was he wearing a tuxedo?

It's the classy way to drive a Zamboni.

Conversely, a walking pine cone is often compared to a pangolin. "That pine cone over there, the one that is walking past the stationary globe artichoke, you know, it's definitely comparable to a pangolin."

One of Shakespeare's sonnets is widely believed to have been written to a walking pine cone. It has the famous phrase: "Shall I compare thee to a pangolin? Your front paws are more lovely and not curled."

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Quote: victor nicholas

The physical appearance of pangolins is marked by large, hardened, plate-like scales. The scales, which are soft on newborn pangolins but harden as the animal matures, are made of keratin, the same material of which human fingernails and tetrapod claws are made. The pangolin is often compared to a walking pine cone or globe artichoke. It can curl up into a ball when threatened, with its overlapping scales acting as armour and its face tucked under its tail. The scales are razor-sharp, providing extra defence. The front claws are so long that they are unsuited for walking, and so the animal walks with its fore paws curled over to protect them. Pangolins can also emit a noxious smelling acid from glands near the anus, similar to the spray of a skunk. Pangolins have short legs, with sharp claws which they use for burrowing into termite and ant mounds, as well as climbing.

The tongues of pangolins are extremely elongated and extend into the abdominal cavity. By convergent evolution pangolins, the giant anteater, and the tube-lipped nectar bat, all have tongues which are unattached to their hyoid bone and extend past their pharynx deep into the thorax.

In pangolins, the section of the brain that relates to problem solving is highly developed. Although their problem solving ability is primarily used to find food in obscure locations, when kept in captivity pangolins are remarkable escape artists and quite proficient at chess and Yahtzee.

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Pangolins lack teeth and the ability to chew. Instead, they tear open anthills or termite mounds with their powerful front claws and probe deep into them with their very long tongues. Pangolins have glands in their chests to lubricate the tongue with sticky, ant-catching saliva.

Some species, such as the Tree Pangolin, use their strong tails to hang from tree branches and strip away bark from the trunk, exposing insect nests inside.

Sounds like they could be handy in the kitchen, they'd make short work of some of this modern packaging.

Every home should have one.

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Quote: Erskin Quint

Sounds like they could be handy in the kitchen, they'd make short work of some of this modern packaging.

Every home should have one.

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I dunno. Some of us do have angry women in our homes... (right now I'm at my mother's, helping her with her modem) and... Ma? Ma! NO! NO! NOT THE PANGOLIN! NOT THE FACE! ARRGGHHH!

They could be behind those styrofoam peanuts

Pangolins may soon find themselves on the endangered species list, I'm afraid, as their scales are prized in Djibouti for their aphrodisiac properties, especially the soft inner core, which is dried, ground into a powder and mixed with yucca root and water to make a paste that is then placed in small amounts under the tongue. It is so strong that only men are permitted to take it.

Legend has it that once a young Djibouti woman spread some Pangolian butter (as it is referred to) on a piece of unleavened bread and ate it for breakfast. She was found alone, nude, in the forest adjoining the village cowering over a freshly killed wildebeest, which she was tearing the flesh from with her bare teeth.

Djibouti men prize the animal so much in fact that they have images of tree-dwelling Pangolins tattooed on their private appendages.

Careful Charpa, Spoof writers may start to tatoo themselves with images of pangolis as well.

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Quote: victor nicholas

Careful Charpa, Spoof writers may start to tatoo themselves with images of pangolis as well.

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I think you may be right about that. The Pangoliin does seem to be much more popular than I had originally thought.

By the way, if anyone needs it, I found an old recipe for garlic Pangolin butter in an old Djibouti Housekeeping magazine from the 70's.

Pangolin butter and banana sandwiches sounds apetizing

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Quote: victor nicholas

Pangolin butter and banana sandwiches sounds apetizing

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Victor:

Only if served with a dish of "Ants Climb a Tree."

Is that a Ben and Jerry's flavour?