Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.An indefinably strange and incredibly endearing creature resembling a hybrid of anteater, pine cone and Pok\u00e9mon, the pangolin has been discreetly scuttling around Earth in one form or another for some 80mn years. But having coexisted with dinosaurs and endured aeons of change, this reclusive, scaly mammal is now on the brink of being wiped out by humans. Poached and harvested for traditional Chinese medicine, it faces extinction in the next two decades if illegal trade continues at current levels.\u00a0\u00a0A stirring new Netflix documentary from the maker of My Octopus Teacher spotlights both the plight of the pangolin and the admirable efforts of small organisations and individuals to protect this \u201cunicorn-type creature\u201d from traffickers in South Africa. The film begins with the rescue of a young animal in a sting operation and goes on to follow the traumatised pup\u2019s year-long rehabilitation under the attentive supervision of local volunteer Gareth Thomas. Like director Pippa Ehrlich\u2019s previous feature, which became an unlikely streaming hit and Oscar-winner, Pangolin: Kulu\u2019s Journey is as much an emotional study of human nature and interspecies communication as a high-res study of the natural world.\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s just something about pangolins,\u201d observes Thomas early on. Watching Kulu go about his business in the safety of a wildlife facility \u2014 foraging for ants; scurrying around with his \u201carms\u201d anxiously clasped in front of him \u2014 you start to get what he means. For all the animal\u2019s distinctive features \u2014 the armoured, coiling body and impossibly flexible tongue \u2014 what really stands out is its quiet, vulnerable innocence. A scene capturing Kulu\u2019s trembling shock as he\u2019s electrocuted by a fence will test even the most stoic viewer.\u00a0While the film unashamedly pulls the heartstrings, there\u2019s nothing affected about Thomas\u2019s doting \u201cparenting\u201d or his separation anxiety as Kulu\u2019s return to the wild looms. We hear how the work has given him a sense of purpose, and how his intense attachment to Kulu has helped him overcome the grief that he felt after the sudden death of his closest friends. The poignant irony is that where pangolins are being killed for remedies, caring for one appears to have been a healing experience for his handler.\u00a0The story of man and creature growing together is uplifting and yet, at times, both wearingly earnest and overly sentimental. But there is, towards the end, a sobering reminder of the way humans abuse the environment and a call for more accountability and awareness. As rehabilitation expert Nicci Wright puts it: \u201cIf such a special creature like a pangolin is lost, it symbolises the way we treat everything.\u201d \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606On Netflix now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.An indefinably strange and incredibly endearing creature resembling a hybrid of anteater, pine cone and Pok\u00e9mon, the pangolin has been discreetly scuttling around Earth in one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":286045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-286044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286046,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286044\/revisions\/286046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}