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81-595: The market became widely known worldwide after being identified by some sources as the epicenter site of coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID-19 ) and the resulting pandemic . It is still one of the most likely points of origin for the disease . The World Health Organization (WHO) was notified on 31 December 2019 about an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan. Of the initial 41 people hospitalized with "pneumonia", who were officially identified as having laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, by 2 January 2020, two-thirds were exposed to

162-770: A bipedal stance for some behavior, and may walk a few steps bipedally. Pangolins are also good swimmers. Pangolins are insectivorous . Most of their diet consists of various species of ants and termites and may be supplemented by other insects, especially larvae. They are somewhat particular and tend to consume only one or two species of insects, even when many species are available. A pangolin can consume 140 to 200 g (5 to 7 oz) of insects per day. Pangolins are an important regulator of termite populations in their natural habitats. Pangolins have very poor vision . They also lack teeth. They rely heavily on smell and hearing , and they have other physical characteristics to help them eat ants and termites. Their skeletal structure

243-451: A preprint analysis of these samples in February 2022, concluding that the coronavirus in the samples had likely been brought in by humans, not the animals on sale, but omissions in the analysis had raised questions, and the raw sample data had not yet been released. As academic journals often require that the raw data be published prior to review, academics had been expecting the publication of

324-488: A ball when threatened, with its overlapping scales acting as armor , while it protects its face by tucking it under its tail. The scales are sharp, providing extra defense from predators. Pangolins can emit a noxious-smelling chemical from glands near the anus, similar to the spray of a skunk . They have short legs, with sharp claws which they use for burrowing into ant and termite mounds and for climbing. The tongues of pangolins are extremely long, and like those of

405-411: A genetic dysfunction, making them extremely fragile. They are susceptible to diseases such as pneumonia and the development of ulcers in captivity, complications that can lead to an early death. In addition, pangolins rescued from illegal trade often have a higher chance of being infected with parasites such as intestinal worms , further lessening their chance for rehabilitation and reintroduction to

486-543: A later publication, The Lancet reported that of the first 99 people confirmed with COVID-19 in Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital between 1 and 20 January 2020, 49 had a history of exposure to the market. The publication nevertheless did not opinionate on whether the market was the origin or just a key link in the epidemic. In an attempt to discover the origin of SARS-CoV-2, samples from the market's animals were also taken between 1 and 12 January 2020. In late January 2020,

567-401: A link between the pneumonia outbreak and the market being established, it was suspected that the virus may have been passed from an animal to humans ( zoonosis ). Bats were initially suggested to be the source of the virus, although it remains unclear if bats were sold there. Later studies hypothesized that pangolins may be the intermediate host of the virus originating from bats, analogous to

648-433: A pangolin is marked by large, hardened, overlapping, plate-like scales, which are soft on newborn pangolins, but harden as the animal matures. They are made of keratin , the same material from which human fingernails and tetrapod claws are made, and are structurally and compositionally very different from the scales of reptiles. The pangolin's scaled body is comparable in appearance to a pine cone . It can curl up into

729-440: A specific population of bats is more likely to be the intermediate host for SARS-CoV-2 than a pangolin, while an evolutionary ancestor to bats was the source for general coronaviruses. Despite the role that the market played in the pandemic, it is yet unclear whether the novel coronavirus outbreak started in the market. The earliest known symptomatic case was reported on 1 December 2019, in a person who did not have any exposure to

810-669: A study found that it is "not too late" to establish conservation efforts for Philippine pangolins ( Manis culionensis ), a species that is only found on the island province of Palawan. Taiwan is one of the few conservation grounds for pangolins in the world after the country enacted the 1989 Wildlife Conservation Act. The introduction of Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers in places like Luanshan ( Yanping Township ) in Taitung and Xiulin townships in Hualien became important communities for protecting pangolins and their habitats and has greatly improved

891-834: A study published in Scientific Reports in June 2021, 38 wildlife species, including 31 protected species, were sold between May 2017 and November 2019 in Wuhan's wet markets (Huanan seafood market, Baishazhou market, Dijiao outdoor pet market, and Qiyimen live animal market) for food and as pets. These species included raccoon dogs , Amur hedgehogs , Siberian weasels , hog badgers , Asian badgers , Chinese hares , Pallas's squirrels , masked palm civets , Chinese bamboo rats , Malayan porcupines , coypus , marmots , red foxes , minks , red squirrels , wild boars , and complex-toothed flying squirrels . The wild animals on sale suffered poor welfare and hygiene conditions and were capable of hosting

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972-404: A wide range of infectious zoonotic diseases or disease-bearing parasites. No pangolin or bat species were among the animals for sale. Even before the pandemic, the market was identified as a likely site for zoonosis (diseases hopping to humans from other species). There were over a thousand raccoon-dogs for sale in the market, and about nine thousand other animals. Samples collected in

1053-419: Is also active by day, while other species of pangolins spend most of the daytime sleeping, curled up into a ball (" volvation "). Arboreal pangolins live in hollow trees, whereas the ground-dwelling species dig tunnels to a depth of 3.5 m (11 ft). Some pangolins walk with their front claws bent under the foot pad, although they use the entire foot pad on their rear limbs. Furthermore, some exhibit

1134-430: Is called the gizzard , and it is also covered in keratinous spines. These spines further aid in the grinding up and digestion of the pangolin's prey. Some species, such as the tree pangolin , use their strong, prehensile tails to hang from tree branches and strip away bark from the trunk, exposing insect nests inside. Pangolins are solitary and meet only to have sex, with mating typically taking place at night after

1215-468: Is reported in Nigeria , where the animal is on the verge of extinction due to overexploitation . The overexploitation comes from hunting pangolins for game meat and the reduction of their forest habitats due to deforestation caused by timber harvesting . The pangolin are hunted as game meat for both medicinal purposes and food consumption. The nucleic acid sequence of a specific receptor-binding domain of

1296-707: Is sturdy and they have strong front legs used for tearing into termite mounds. They use their powerful front claws to dig into trees, soil, and vegetation to find prey, then proceed to use their long tongues to probe inside the insect tunnels and to retrieve their prey. The structure of their tongue and stomach is key to aiding pangolins in obtaining and digesting insects. Their saliva is sticky, causing ants and termites to stick to their long tongues when they are hunting through insect tunnels. Without teeth, pangolins cannot also chew; but while foraging , they ingest small stones ( gastroliths ), which accumulate in their stomachs to help to grind up ants. This part of their stomach

1377-408: Is uncertainty in such measurements that grows with the wavelength so the focal depth of the source of these long-wavelength (low frequency) waves is difficult to determine exactly. Very strong earthquakes radiate a large fraction of their released energy in seismic waves with very long wavelengths and therefore a stronger earthquake involves the release of energy from a larger mass of rock. Computing

1458-464: The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that the virus was found in 33 out of 585 of environmental samples taken, 31 of which came from the area of the market where wildlife was particularly found. This was another indication of the role that the market played, but its identification as the origin of the epidemic has been disputed. A review published on 24 January 2020, noted that

1539-468: The IUCN , while three are classified as critically endangered . All pangolin species are currently listed under Appendix I of CITES which prohibits international trade, except when the product is intended for non-commercial purposes and a permit has been granted. China had been the main destination country for pangolins until 2018, where it was surpassed by Vietnam. In 2019, Vietnam was reported to have seized

1620-602: The Malay word pengguling meaning "one who rolls up" from guling or giling "to roll"; it was used for the Sunda pangolin ( Manis javanica ). However, the modern name is tenggiling . In Javanese , it is terenggiling ; and in the Philippine languages , it is goling , tanggiling , or balintong (with the same meaning). In ancient India, according to Aelian , it was known as the phattáges (φαττάγης). The physical appearance of

1701-794: The Song dynasty , the notion of penetrating and clearing blockages was emphasized in the Taiping sheng hui fan ("Formulas from Benevolent Sages Compiled During the Era of Peace and Tranquility"), compiled by Wang Huaiyin in 992. In the 21st century, the main uses of pangolin scales are quackery practices based on unproven claims the scales dissolve blood clots , promote blood circulation, or help lactating women secrete milk. The supposed health effects of pangolin meat and scales claimed by folk medicine practitioners are based on their consumption of ants, long tongues, and protective scales. The official pharmacopoeia of

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1782-498: The carnivorans , with which they form a clade , the Ferae . Palaeanodonts are even closer relatives to pangolins, being classified with pangolins in the clade Pholidotamorpha . The split between carnivorans and pangolins is estimated to have occurred 79.47 Ma (million years) ago. The first dichotomy in the phylogeny of extant Manidae separates Asian pangolins ( Manis ) from African pangolins ( Smutsia and Phataginus ). Within

1863-456: The giant anteater and the tube-lipped nectar bat , the root of the tongue is not attached to the hyoid bone but is in the thorax between the sternum and the trachea . Large pangolins can extend their tongues as much as 40 cm (16 in), with a diameter of only about 0.5 cm ( 1 ⁄ 5  in). Most pangolins are nocturnal animals which use their well-developed sense of smell to find insects. The long-tailed pangolin

1944-554: The spike protein belonging to coronaviruses taken from pangolins was found to be a 99% match with SARS coronavirus 2 ( SARS-CoV-2 ), the virus which causes COVID-19 and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic . Researchers in Guangzhou , China, hypothesized that SARS-CoV-2 had originated in bats, and prior to infecting humans, was circulating among pangolins. The illicit Chinese trade of pangolins for use in traditional Chinese medicine

2025-664: The threatened tier. Three ( Manis culionensis , M. pentadactyla and M. javanica ) are critically endangered, three ( Phataginus tricuspis , Manis crassicaudata and Smutsia gigantea ) are endangered and two ( Phataginus tetradactyla and Smutsia temminckii ) are vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature . The name of order Pholidota comes from Ancient Greek ϕολιδωτός – "clad in scales" from φολίς pholís " scale ". The name "pangolin" comes from

2106-763: The IUCN considered all eight species of pangolin on its Red List of Threatened Species as threatened. The IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group launched a global action plan to conserve pangolins, dubbed "Scaling up Pangolin Conservation", in July 2014. This action plan aims to improve all aspects of pangolin conservation with an added emphasis on combating poaching and trafficking of the animal while educating communities on its importance. Another suggested approach to fighting pangolin (and general wildlife) trafficking consists in "following

2187-606: The People's Republic of China included Chinese pangolin scales as an ingredient in TCM formulations. Pangolins were removed from the pharmacopoeia starting from the first half of 2020. Although pangolin scales have been removed from the list of raw ingredients, the scales are still listed as a key ingredient in various medicines. Pangolin parts are also used for medicinal purposes in other Asian countries such as India, Nepal and Pakistan. In some parts of India and Nepal, locals believe that wearing

2268-514: The Wuhan lockdown and is still in operation. With local demand present for the consumption of exotic animals, the market also offered exotic game ( ye wei in Chinese) and other wild animals for sale, a feature uncommon in most Chinese wet markets . A price list posted by one vendor on the popular Chinese review site Dazhong Dianping listed 112 items, including a number of wild animals. The South China Morning Post reported on 29 January 2020, that

2349-528: The atmosphere rather than strike the surface, is the closest point on the surface to the explosion. The Tunguska event occurred in Siberia in 1908 and flattened an estimated 80 million trees over an area of 2,150 km (830 sq mi) of forest. The trees at the hypocenter of the blast were left standing, but all their limbs had been blown off by the shockwave. The 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor 's hypocenter in Russia

2430-509: The atomic attacks, released in June 1946, used the term liberally, defining it as: For convenience, the term 'ground zero' will be used to designate the point on the ground directly beneath the point of detonation, or 'air zero.' William Laurence , an embedded reporter with the Manhattan Project , reported that "Zero" was "the code name given to the spot chosen for the [Trinity] test" in 1945. The Oxford English Dictionary , citing

2511-504: The attention of others. An international team of researchers assembled to analyse the new data, but when they reached out to the Chinese researchers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention who uploaded the data, there was no reply and the samples were removed from the public database by the uploaders. Analysis of the downloaded sequences was proceeding without Chinese collaboration, as of 16 March 2023. On 14 March,

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2592-448: The burrow riding on the mother's back. Weaning takes place around three months of age, when the young begin to eat insects in addition to nursing. At two years of age, the offspring are sexually mature and are abandoned by the mother. The order Pholidota was long considered to be the sister taxon to Xenarthra (neotropical anteaters , sloths , and armadillos ), but recent genetic evidence indicates their closest living relatives are

2673-677: The center of this open space was nicknamed "Cafe Ground Zero". During the September 11 attacks in 2001, two aircraft were hijacked by 10 al-Qaeda terrorists and were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City , causing massive damage and starting fires that caused the weakened 110-story skyscrapers to collapse . The destroyed World Trade Center site soon became known as "ground zero". Rescue workers also used

2754-491: The center'), also called ground zero or surface zero , is the point on the Earth 's surface directly below a nuclear explosion , meteor air burst , or other mid-air explosion. In seismology , the hypocenter of an earthquake is its point of origin below ground; a synonym is the focus of an earthquake. Generally, the terms ground zero and surface zero are also used in relation to epidemics , and other disasters to mark

2835-635: The efficacy of those practices, and they have no logical mechanism of action , their popularity still drives the black market for animal body parts, despite concerns about toxicity, transmission of diseases from animals to humans, and species extermination. The ongoing demand for parts as ingredients continues to fuel pangolin poaching, hunting and trading . The first record of pangolin scales occurs in Ben Cao Jinji Zhu ("Variorum of Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica", 500 CE), which recommends pangolin scales for protection against ant bites; burning

2916-486: The former, Manis pentadactyla is the sister group to a clade comprising M. crassicaudata and M. javanica . Within the latter, a split separates the large terrestrial African pangolins of the genus Smutsia from the small arboreal African pangolins of the genus Phataginus . Asian and African pangolins are thought to have diverged about 41.37 Ma ago. Moreover, the basal position of Manis within Pholidota suggests

2997-496: The genomes of dead Manis javanica and Manis pentadactyla . To refer to both sampling site and hosts, they were named Dongyang pangolin virus (DYPV) and Lishui pangolin virus (LSPV). The DYPV pestivirus was also identified in Amblyomma javanense nymph ticks from a diseased pangolin. Pangolin scales and flesh are used as ingredients for various traditional Chinese medicine preparations. While no scientific evidence exists for

3078-464: The group originated in Eurasia, consistent with their laurasiatherian phylogeny. Pangolins are in high demand in southern China and Vietnam because their scales are believed to have medicinal properties in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine . Their meat is also considered a delicacy. 100,000 are estimated to be trafficked a year to China and Vietnam, amounting to over one million over

3159-609: The hypocenter of the attack was Shima Hospital , approximately 800 ft (240 m) away from the intended aiming point at Aioi Bridge . During the Cold War , the Pentagon (headquarters of United States Department of Defense in Arlington County, Virginia ) was an assured target in the event of nuclear war . The open space in the center of the Pentagon became known informally as ground zero. A snack bar that used to be located at

3240-466: The hypocenters of foreshocks, main shock, and aftershocks of earthquakes allows the three-dimensional plotting of the fault along which movement is occurring. The expanding wavefront from the earthquake's rupture propagates at a speed of several kilometers per second; this seismic wave is what is measured at various surface points in order to geometrically determine an initial guess as to the hypocenter. The wave reaches each station based upon how far away it

3321-498: The initial estimated hypocenter. These equations are solved by the method of least squares which minimizes the sum of the squares of the differences between the observed and calculated arrival times, and a new estimated hypocenter is computed. The system iterates until the location is pinpointed within the margin of error for the velocity computations. Pangolin Pangolins , sometimes known as scaly anteaters , are mammals of

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3402-437: The initial outbreak of the pneumonia cluster, the health authorities closed the market to conduct investigations, clean, and disinfect the location. Chinese environmentalists, researchers, and state media have called for stricter regulation of exotic animal trade in wet markets. Several Chinese scientists have called for bans on wildlife trade since 2003. On 22 January 2020, a ban on the sale of all wild animal products in Wuhan

3483-467: The international group of researchers presented a preliminary analysis at a meeting of the World Health Organization 's Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens , at which, several of the Chinese researchers were present. Shortly afterwards, changes in the status of the preprint suggested that it is now under review for print publication. The international research team welcomed

3564-712: The largest seafood wholesale market in Central China , with wild animals sold in its western zone. The market was located in the newer part of the city, near shops and apartment blocks, about 800 meters (2,600 ft) from Hankou railway station , and close to the Wuhan Center for Disease Control . In late 2019, the market passed city official inspections, according to The Wall Street Journal . However, Time reported it to have "unsanitary" conditions. It had narrow lanes and stalls in close proximity, where livestock were kept alongside dead animals. According to Business Insider , it

3645-583: The largest volumes of pangolin scales, surpassing Nigeria that year. Pangolins are also hunted and eaten in Ghana and are one of the more popular types of bushmeat , while local healers use the pangolin as a source of traditional medicine. Though pangolins are protected by an international ban on their trade, populations have suffered from illegal trafficking due to beliefs in East Asia that their ground-up scales can stimulate lactation or cure cancer or asthma . In

3726-431: The male and female pangolin meet near a watering hole. Males are larger than females, weighing up to 40% more. While the mating season is not defined, they typically mate once each year, usually during the summer or autumn. Rather than the males seeking out the females, males mark their location with urine or feces and the females find them. If competition over a female occurs, the males use their tails as clubs to fight for

3807-612: The market had a section selling around "120 wildlife animals across 75 species." It was incorrectly reported that koalas were sold at the market. The price list included "树熊" ( pinyin : shùxióng ; lit. 'tree bear'). This term is used for koalas in Chinese communities in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, but in China, they are called "考拉" (read as "kǎolā"). At the Huanan market, 'tree bear' referred to large rodents. According to

3888-468: The market in early 2020 showed high levels of SARS-CoV-2 and raccoon-dog genetic material (often both in the same samples), especially from a stall ("Stall 29") that kept a cage of raccoon-dogs on top of a cage containing poultry, optimum conditions for the virus to hop the species barrier. The existence of such a stall has been contested by Chinese authorities; the stall had been photographed in 2014 by Edward C. Holmes , an Australian virologist who visited

3969-505: The market or to the remaining affected 40 people. A paper from a large group of Chinese researchers from several institutions, published in The Lancet , offered details about the first 41 hospitalized patients who had confirmed infections with SARS-CoV-2. Their data showed 13 of the initial 41 people found with the novel coronavirus had no link with the market, a significant figure, according to infectious diseases specialist Daniel Lucey . In

4050-434: The market was not associated with any COVID-19 cases outside of China. In May 2020, George Gao , the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention , said animal samples collected from the seafood market had tested negative for the virus, indicating that the market was the site of an early superspreading event , but it was not the site of the initial outbreak. On 11 December 2020, Reuters reported that

4131-400: The market was still empty and barricaded. On 31 January 2021, a team of scientists led by the World Health Organization visited the wet market to investigate the origins of COVID-19. The WHO investigation determined that despite cluster cases there in an early outbreak and some contaminated surfaces found, no infected animal was found, concluding that human to human transmission at the market

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4212-520: The market while working with local researchers, and while a guest professor with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) from 2014 to 2020; it had also been filmed by a local in December 2019 and posted on Weibo . Raccoon-dogs are known to be able to catch and spread COVID-19 easily. These samples were swabs of surfaces in the market. Samples from the actual animals in the market would be more conclusive but were not collected. The market

4293-404: The market. The market was closed permanently on 1 January 2020 for sanitary procedures and disinfection. Thirty-three out of 585 environmental samples (5.6%) obtained from the market indicated evidence of COVID-19 outbreak, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention . The market occupied over 50,000 m (12 acres) and had over 1,000 tenants. It is reported to have been

4374-817: The money" rather than "the animal", which aims to disrupt smugglers' profits by interrupting money flows. Financial intelligence gathering could thus become a key tool in protecting these animals, although this opportunity is often overlooked. In 2018, a Chinese NGO launched the Counting Pangolins movement, calling for joint efforts to save the mammals from trafficking. Wildlife conservation group TRAFFIC has identified 159 smuggling routes used by pangolin traffickers and aims to shut these down. Many attempts have been made to breed pangolins in captivity, but due to their reliance on wide-ranging habitats and very particular diets, these attempts are often unsuccessful. Pangolins have significantly decreased immune responses due to

4455-478: The move and hoped the Chinese team's paper would be revised to include the full genetic data, saying they would also be publishing an analysis and hoped that, as scientists, they would work together on the issues. The New York Times was not able to reach the Chinese scientists for comment by 16 March, but George Gao , the former head of the CCDC and lead author on the February 2022 preprint, told Science that there

4536-431: The only known mammals with this feature. Depending on the species, they live in hollow trees or burrows . Pangolins are nocturnal , and their diet consists of mainly ants and termites , which they capture using their long tongues. They tend to be solitary animals, meeting only to mate and produce a litter of one to three offspring, which they raise for about two years. Pangolins superficially resemble armadillos , though

4617-450: The opportunity to mate with her. Gestation periods differ by species, ranging from roughly 70 to 140 days. African pangolin females usually give birth to a single offspring at a time, but the Asiatic species may give birth to from one to three. Weight at birth is 80 to 450 g ( 2 + 3 ⁄ 4 to 15 + 3 ⁄ 4  oz), and the average length is 150 mm (6 in). At

4698-701: The order Pholidota ( / f ɒ l ɪ ˈ d oʊ t ə / ). The one extant family, the Manidae , has three genera: Manis , Phataginus , and Smutsia . Manis comprises four species found in Asia, while Phataginus and Smutsia include two species each, all found in sub-Saharan Africa. These species range in size from 30 to 100 cm (12 to 39 in). Several extinct pangolin species are also known. In September 2023, nine species were reported. Pangolins have large, protective keratin scales, similar in material to fingernails and toenails, covering their skin; they are

4779-591: The past decade, numerous seizures of illegally trafficked pangolin and pangolin meat have taken place in Asia. In one such incident in April 2013, 10,000 kg (22,000 pounds) of pangolin meat were seized from a Chinese vessel that ran aground in the Philippines . In another case in August 2016, an Indonesian man was arrested after police raided his home and found over 650 pangolins in freezers on his property. The same threat

4860-553: The past decade. This makes them the most trafficked animal in the world. This, coupled with deforestation , has led to a large decrease in the numbers of pangolins. Some species, such as Manis pentadactyla have become commercially extinct in certain ranges as a result of overhunting. In November 2010, pangolins were added to the Zoological Society of London 's list of evolutionarily distinct and endangered mammals. All eight species of pangolin are assessed as threatened by

4941-585: The point of the most severe damage or destruction. The term is distinguished from the term zero point in that the latter can also be located in the air, underground, or underwater. The term "ground zero" originally referred to the hypocenter of the Trinity test in Jornada del Muerto desert near Socorro, New Mexico , and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan . The United States Strategic Bombing Survey of

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5022-425: The proximal origin of the pandemic. In December 2019, an epidemic of a pneumonia cluster occurred in Wuhan. By 2 January 2020, a new strain of coronavirus, later determined to be SARS-CoV-2 , was confirmed in an initial 41 people hospitalized with the pneumonia, two-thirds of whom had direct exposure to the market. As coronaviruses (like SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV ) mainly circulate among non-human animals, and with

5103-467: The raw data behind the preprint paper. No raw genetic data had previously been accessible to any academics not working at Chinese institutions until the genetic sequences from some of the market swabs were uploaded to an international database . Florence Débarre , a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research , stumbled across the samples on March 4, 2023, and brought them to

5184-400: The relationship between SARS-CoV and civets . Phylogenetic analysis indicates that pangolins are a potential reservoir host rather than the intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2. While there is scientific consensus that bats are the ultimate source of coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 originated from a pangolin, jumped back to bats, and then jumped to humans, according to phylogenetic analysis. Therefore,

5265-582: The scales as a cure for people crying hysterically during the night. During the Tang dynasty , a recipe for expelling evil spirits with a formulation of scales, herbs, and minerals appeared in 682, and in 752 CE the idea that pangolin scales could also stimulate milk secretion in lactating women, one of the main uses today, was recommended in the Wai Tai Mi Yao ("Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library"). In

5346-604: The scales of a pangolin can help prevent pneumonia. Pangolin scales have also been used for medicinal purposes in Malaysia, Indonesia and northern Myanmar. Indigenous people in southern Palawan , Philippines, have held the belief that elders could avoid prostate illnesses by wearing belts made with the scales. As a result of increasing threats to pangolins, mainly in the form of illegal, international trade in pangolin skin, scales, and meat, these species have received increasing conservation attention in recent years. As of January 2020 ,

5427-493: The site labeled it the " Ground Zero mosque ". In advance of the 10th anniversary of the attacks, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg urged that the "ground zero" moniker be retired, saying, "…the time has come to call those 16 acres [6.5 hectares] what they are: The World Trade Center and the National September 11th Memorial and Museum." The hypocenter of a meteor air burst , an asteroid or comet that explodes in

5508-520: The term "The Big Momma!", referring to the pile of rubble that was left after the buildings collapsed. Even after the site was cleaned up and construction on the new One World Trade Center and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum were well under way, the term was still frequently used to refer to the site, as when opponents of the Park51 project that was to be located two blocks away from

5589-454: The time of birth, the scales are soft and white. After several days, they harden and darken to resemble those of an adult pangolin. During the vulnerable stage, the mother stays with her offspring in the burrow, nursing it, and wraps her body around it if she senses danger. The young cling to the mother's tail as she moves about, although, in burrowing species, they remain in the burrow for the first 2–4 weeks of life. At one month, they first leave

5670-400: The two are not closely related; they have merely undergone convergent evolution . Pangolins are threatened by poaching (for their meat and scales, which are used in traditional medicine ) and heavy deforestation of their natural habitats, and are the most trafficked mammals in the world. As of January 2020 , there are eight species of pangolin whose conservation status is listed in

5751-482: The use of the term in a 1946 New York Times report on the destroyed city of Hiroshima , defines ground zero as "that part of the ground situated immediately under an exploding bomb, especially an atomic one." The term was military slang, used at the Trinity site where the weapon tower for the first nuclear weapon was at "point zero", and moved into general use very shortly after the end of World War II . At Hiroshima,

5832-526: The wild. The idea of farming pangolins to reduce the number being illegally trafficked is being explored with little success. The third Saturday in February is promoted as World Pangolin Day by the conservation NPO Annamiticus. World Pangolin Day has been noted for its effectiveness in generating awareness about pangolins. In 2017, Jackie Chan made a public service announcement called WildAid : Jackie Chan & Pangolins (Kung Fu Pangolin) . In December 2020,

5913-542: Was "nothing new" in the raw data, and refused to answer questions about why his research team had removed it from the database. On 17 March, the WHO director-general said that the data should have been shared three years earlier, and called on China to be more transparent in its data-sharing. Maria Van Kerkhove , the WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, called for this data to be made public immediately. On 1 January 2020, in response to

5994-582: Was announced. In May 2020, the city banned eating wild animals and limited hunting and breeding of wild animals. On 24 February 2020, the Chinese government announced that the trade and consumption of wild animals would be banned throughout China, amidst mounting domestic criticism of the industry. However, the ban does not cover the consumption of wild animal products in traditional Chinese medicine , according to The New York Times . Ground zero A hypocenter or hypocentre (from Ancient Greek ὑπόκεντρον ( hupókentron )  'below

6075-539: Was closed on January 1, and the animals had been removed before public-health authorities from the Chinese CDC came in. Although the samples do not definitively prove that the raccoon dog is the "missing" intermediate animal host in the bat-to-human transmission chain, it does show that raccoon dogs were present in the Huanan market at the time of the initial SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, in areas that were also positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, and substantially strengthens this hypothesis as

6156-427: Was common to see animals openly slaughtered and carcasses skinned in the market. The New York Times reported that "sanitation was dismal, with poor ventilation and garbage piled on wet floors." The Huanan seafood market was the ground floor of the building. Following its closure, it was sanitized in depth and did not reopen. On the second floor, there is Huanan Glasses Wholesale City (华南眼镜批发城), which closed only during

6237-427: Was from the hypocenter. A number of things need to be taken into account, most importantly variations in the waves speed based upon the materials that it is passing through. With adjustments for velocity changes, the initial estimate of the hypocenter is made, then a series of linear equations is set up, one for each station. The equations express the difference between the observed arrival times and those calculated from

6318-432: Was later proved that the testing which suggested that pangolins were a potential host for the virus was flawed, when genetic analysis showed that the spike protein and its binding to receptors in pangolins had minimal effect from the virus, and therefore were not likely mechanisms for COVID-19 infections in humans. In 2020, two novel RNA viruses distantly related to pestiviruses and coltiviruses have been detected in

6399-443: Was likely, with the origin site still unknown. In late July 2022, two papers were published in the journal Science , both describing evidence that the pandemic likely began at the market, and probably did not originate at a laboratory. The Chinese government has long insisted that the virus originated outside China, and until June 2021, denied that live animals were traded at the Huanan market. Some Chinese researchers had published

6480-559: Was more populated than that of Tunguska, resulting in civil damage and injury, mostly from flying glass shards from broken windows. An earthquake's hypocenter or focus is the position where the strain energy stored in the rock is first released, marking the point where the fault begins to rupture. This occurs directly beneath the epicenter , at a distance known as the hypocentral depth or focal depth . The focal depth can be calculated from measurements based on seismic wave phenomena. As with all wave phenomena in physics , there

6561-448: Was suggested as a vector for human transmission. However, whole-genome comparison found that the pangolin and human coronaviruses share only up to 92% of their RNA. Ecologists worried that the early speculation about pangolins being the source may have led to mass slaughters, endangering them further, which was similar to what happened to Asian palm civets during the SARS outbreak. It

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