The New Big 5: How wildlife photography can help save threatened species

• News & Highlights

Throughout the long, dark, difficult days of the COVID-19 crisis, many hopeful voices have been arguing against us slipping back into business as usual post-lockdown; this wake-up call is a chance for our relationship with the natural world to change. The virus is thought to have originated from pangolins or bats sold for meat in Wuhan, China. Scientists warn that a future pandemic could be even worse if we don’t change course—not just in terms of the sale of wild animals for meat or ‘medicine,’ but the destruction of habitat around the world, which brings people into closer proximity with animals.

The pandemic has also increased attention on the little-known pangolin, the most trafficked mammal in the world. 200,000 pangolins are killed and trafficked each year, primarily to China where they are sold for meat and their scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine.