pangolin in the ground

with a dead pangolin recently in the news, i thought of my kampong days when i came across one burrowed in the ground, across the drain near my house. i cannot remember what i was looking for that day when i came across this scaly creature in the hole on a mound. i must have been scared stiff because i thought it was an enormous snake.

it was not uncommon to find snakes around the house in a kampong. once we found a colourful coral snake, early in the morning, on the cement patch just outside our home. i think the snake, though small, was a venomous one.

after i had described my find at the mound to some neighbours, one brave one went to check it out. he came back to report that it was an ant-eater and later on went back to dig it out of the burrow. i have no idea what he did with it. until then, i was not aware that ant-eaters existed in singapore.