(CNN) -- The world finally is starting to wake up to the plight of the pangolin -- an awesomely introverted, scale-covered mammal that's capable off fending of lions but gets snatched right up by poachers.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature said this week it considers all eight species of pangolin to be threatened with extinction because of the black market trade in its meat and scales.
"In the 21st century we really should not be eating species to extinction," Jonathan Baillie, co-chair of the IUCN's pangolin specialist group, said in a statement.
"There is simply no excuse for allowing this illegal trade to continue."
The IUCN, which publishes the well-known "Red List" of threatened species, now estimates more than 1 million pangolins were poached in the last decade. That's a staggering number -- pangolins already were thought to be the most trafficked mammals in the world -- and an important reminder that the world could lose these amazing little creatures if more isn't done, immediately, to protect them.
When I went to Vietnam and Indonesia earlier this year to report undercover on the pangolin market, I came across a number of reasons the trade continues unabated.