High in the rainforest canopy of Central and West Africa, a creature moves through the darkness that seems conjured from some fantastical bestiary. The long-tailed pangolin, with its overlapping scales, prehensile tail, and almost serpentine grace, represents one of nature's most extraordinary evolutionary experiments. This smallest of the African pangolins has adapted supremely to life in the trees, its remarkable tail containing more vertebrae than any other mammal's and serving as both anchor and counterbalance as it navigates branches in search of ants and termites. Yet despite millions of years of successful evolution, this remarkable animal now faces existential threat from human demand for its scales and meat...