Pangolin awareness via art
Published on: Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: All eight species of pangolins in the world face the spectre of extinction as they are being hunted beyond their ability to recover. Yet no one had ever thought of this prolific ant/termite eater as a mascot to sell destinations. "This is why I decided to use art to spread a message of its impending doom at the hands of big money bush meat and traditional medicine hunters," said Naomi Kato, a Master of Art graduate from the University of Osaka, Japan.
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Here's how her ecological sensitivity propelled her into an artistic vanguard for pangolin protection. "An adult pangolin consumes about 70 million insects per year. Because of its insatiable appetite for insects, especially termites and ants, pangolins play a very essential role in forest ecosystem pest control and also a soil caretaker because its digging feeding habit loosens and aerates soil in the wild," Naomi noted. Minus this ecological check and balance role of the Pangolin, termites may wreak havoc with the health of tropical forest trees. "Imagine another ecological masterpiece disappears from Planet Earth. That's why I decided to use art to spread the message about its impending extinction," Naomi said.
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"This is why the pangolin occupies a strong position in my works . In fact, the motif of her inspirational art is the pangolin, although she also does batik and stand-up art, a few pieces of which have been exhibited at the Sabah Arts Gallery, here.
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"I want to spread the message of this little known but very ecologically important nocturnal animal and yet nobody has used this animal as a marketing tool like the Orangutan or the Proboscis monkey. Somehow it's not very popular but I want to tell the public that this animal is facing grave danger, on the brink of extinction," Naomi said. Her interest in the pangolin is also cultural.Married to Kuala Penyu-hailed Tatana Dr James Alin, Naomi is deeply aware of the cause of its impending demise. For instance, Pangolin scales are a popular ingredient in even traditional Japanese medicine which has its roots in traditional Chinese medicine. But here is a unique cultural perspective of the pangolin as it is traditionally revered by the Tatana. Mythology has it that many Tatana of old lived very long lives till their backs started to bend and during bad famines, families would bring these old men and women to a mountain, build a hut and tell the old folks: 'we leave you here – this is your food, we'll come back'. But the promised return never happened, the aged were simply abandoned .The mythology is these hunch-back old folks turned into pangolins! Hence, Tatanas of Kuala Penyu don't kill pangolins although this taboo is also breaking down.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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