All language subtitles for BBC.Natural.World.2018.Pangolins.The.Worlds.Most.Wanted.Animal.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

This programme contains
some scenes which some viewers
may find upsetting.

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH:
This is a pangolin...

..the world's only
truly scaly mammal.

We know almost nothing about
their lives

but these creatures have gained
an unfortunate tag -

pangolins are the most trafficked
wild mammals in the world.

100,000 pangolins a year are hunted
and trafficked like this.

More than 4,000 pangolins
were killed to collect

the nearly three tonnes of scales.

Their scales and their meat have
become lucrative commodities.

Selling for as much as $500 a kilo.

More valuable than ivory.

Fried pangolin, grilled pangolin,
steamed pangolin.

This shy creature may become extinct
before most people

even notice it's there.

Conservationist Maria Diekmann
is on a mission to save

these vulnerable animals.

There's not a chance this pangolin
will be alive a week from now

if I can't save it.

Her journey will take her halfway
around the globe.

To Vietnam...

..Thailand...

..and China,

into the very heart of
the problem...

There are probably 50 to 100
in each of these bags.

..where she'll discover a sheer
determination to save an animal that

we're still tried to get to know.

We've got a very good chance
of losing pangolins

within the next decade.

We're talking about a total
and complete extinction.

They're the underdogs.

I've got to fight for the underdogs.

BRISTLING

SCALES BRISTLE

Pangolins are shy,
secretive creatures.

Quite unlike anything else on earth.

BIRDS CHATTER

Their claws can dig through
concrete.

Their thin, sticky tongue...
SLURPING

..is as long as their bodies.

They can travel along
on their hind legs.

These animals have walked the planet
for over 40 million years.

And there are eight distinct
species.

Four are found in Africa...

..and four in Asia.

Pangolins are the world's only truly
scaly mammals.

Their scales, just like human
fingernails, are made from keratin.

But this remarkable natural armour
is the cause of their destruction.

In the last 20 years,
the demand for pangolin scales

for use in traditional
Asian medicines

has decimated their numbers
worldwide.

Today, a pangolin will be taken from
the wild every five minutes.

THEY CONVERSE IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE

In Namibia, conservationist
Maria Diekmann

is on the front line of the battle
to save these animals.

She's been contacted by a stranger
with a pangolin to sell.

If we see that it's alive,
and I can't convince this guy...

..I've got to walk away.

That's really hard.
But if I don't walk away,

and then I pay him an extraordinary
amount of money,

then I promise you,
tomorrow he's back in the bush

and he's getting the next one.

I've got a 50-50 chance.

You can film for a couple more
minutes and then camera away.

The call has brought Maria to
a poor township

where selling a pangolin
could bring great wealth.

But she's determined to pay nothing

to ensure no value is
placed on these animals.

I'd love to see her, see if
she's OK, but if you keep her,

she is going to die.

She's going to die. There's not
a question about it.

There's nothing you can feed her.

Nobody in the world has kept
pangolins in captivity,

except for three people.
I'm one of them.

This is a guy who's taken
an opportunity,

he probably just wants some
extra money for his family,

maybe even a good thing, to put
his kids in school, who knows?

And he thinks that this is a way
to do it.

After a tense four-hour negotiation,
Maria leaves...

..with a pangolin in hand.

But this is just the beginning.

Every moment counts.

It's really a life and death
situation.

Pangolins are notoriously difficult
to keep in captivity.

OK, still alive.

Fortunately, this traumatised animal
will have a second chance,

thanks to Maria.

She's one of only a handful of
people in the world

to have successfully
rehabilitated pangolins.

But for every one she saves,

thousands more are being taken
from the wild.

NEWS ARCHIVE: The pangolin is so
sought-after,

it's considered the most widely
trafficked animal in the world,

critically endangered
and facing extinction.

It is a difficult battle and
the odds aren't with them.

Maria's fight for pangolins
began just five years ago.

She runs an organisation
that rescues

Africa's lesser-known wild animals.

It was this work that led to
a truly life-changing encounter.

My first real pangolin that came
to me, that I spent any time with,

she was actually offered to a shop
owner, who bought her to save her,

and he called me.

We formed this incredible bond,

which pangolins don't usually do
with humans, but we realised why.

Two days later, as I was preparing
to get a tracker on her and try and

release her,
she actually gave birth.

Start filming. It's filming.

This has never happened before.

This was the first time anyone
had filmed the birth of a pangolin.

She was waiting until she felt
secure enough

and I was able to provide that.

At that time in the world,

nobody else had ever raised
a baby that young.

There were no books
that we could turn to,

there was really nobody that had

ever done what
we getting ready to do.

OK, so that's
a little boy, going in.

We had to sort of pioneer how to
handle such a young baby pup.

Look at that, 3.99!

Oh, my God, this is so exciting!

Since that first encounter, Maria
has rescued over 50 Cape pangolins.

You're going to go back into
the wild today.

Are you going to open up for me?

Each one teaches her something new

about these little
understood creatures.

But in 2015, a very special
animal arrived.

A baby pangolin that could offer
a deeper insight into her species -

and change everything.

The arrival of Honey Bun
was probably one of the

saddest arrivals ever.

The mother was seriously abused.

She'd been kicked around.

It was obviously on a cement floor,

because you could see streaks of
the paint on her scales.

Honey Bun had no damage whatsoever,

so what had probably happened is the
mother had rolled around Honey Bun

to protect her.

So traumatised was she
by her mistreatment,

that the mother escaped at her first
opportunity...

..leaving Maria to raise
the newly named Honey Bun...

GLASS SMASHES
..in a unique living situation.

BANGING

Sharing her home with
a troublesome toddler.

Honey Bun?

Honey Bun!

There's nothing for you in there.

When one little baby pangolin
comes in,

you're talking about years and years
and years of complete commitment.

Young pangolins require
round-the-clock attention.

And as they get older, the biggest
challenge is keeping them well fed.

Now 18 months old...

..Honey Bun has developed
quite an appetite.

Like all pangolins, she feeds
exclusively on insects.

Sniffing them out with her highly
sensitive nose.

She has no teeth, but uses her long,
sticky tongue to lap them up.

Her scales, able to withstand
the bite of a lion,

help protect her from angry ants.

And she shuts her nostrils and ears
when feeding.

Pangolins need to eat millions of
insects in a year.

The only way Maria can provide this
diet is to allow her pangolins to

forage naturally for up to five
hours a day.

Oh, my goodness gracious,

if I had known that I was going to
have to spend this much time walking

with pangolins, I might have
second-guessed myself.

Honey Bun can cover up to six miles
to feed each day...

..and Maria goes with her,
watching her every move.

Their trusting relationship gives
Maria the opportunity to observe

natural pangolin behaviour.

I've spent thousands and thousands
of hours in the bush walking behind

pangolins. You know,

I've probably observed things that
nobody in the world has ever seen.

A lot of people have thought that
they knew a lot about pangolins

and those have become facts
that are actually incorrect.

You know, the books will tell you
that they eat termites and ants.

No, they mainly eat ants.

The books will tell you
they're nocturnal.

No, no, in winter they're not
nocturnal at all.

And that's the process
that we're in now,

is actually determining what's true,
what's not true...

..and figuring out really more about
them, so that we can save them.

Pangolins are so difficult to study
in the wild,

we don't even know how long
they live.

Maria's unique access is helping to
build our understanding

of this species.

She meticulously records everything
she observes...

..and is analysing this with
the help of students,

like Harvard graduate
Lorena Benitez.

Honey Bun is incredibly important.

No-one else has really been able to
follow a pangolin, like,

through their life like this.

So we can really see, like, how
feeding patterns, behaviour changes,

not just between seasons, but during
different life stages,

so you really understand, like,
the whole pangolin life cycle.

With all the data we have from
Honey Bun,

there is just a whole new world of
possibility opened up for pangolin

conservation in the wild.

Piece by piece,

Honey Bun is helping to unravel the
mysteries that surround her kind.

But time is not on their side.

THUNDER RUMBLES,
LIGHTNING CRASHES

African pangolins are increasingly
under threat.

About three years ago,
we started stopping shipments,

looking mainly for rhino and for
elephant,

and started finding thousands of
tonnes of pangolins.

That was the real wake-up call for
all of us.

And nobody knew.

She's a little disturbed
this evening. You know,

we've got a really
big storm coming in.

THUNDER RUMBLES IN THE DISTANCE

And she just doesn't want to sleep.

And this...

I want to show you something,
this is the kind of stuff that...

..actually keeps me awake at night.

The problem of pangolin poaching in
Africa stems from the other side of

the world.

More than 4,000 pangolins were
killed to collect the nearly

three tonnes of pangolin scales.

In Asia, pangolin scales have been
used in traditional medicines for

centuries.

And Asian species have long been
hunted for their scales...

Restaurants here openly,
but illegally,

serve pangolin on the menu.

..and their meat.

Well, I can see some of these guys
don't even have scales.

All different ages.
There's quite a young one.

Look at this little baby here.

Probably a newborn, or just about
ready to be born.

And this is a delicacy in Asia.

This demand has driven
Asian pangolins

to the brink of extinction

and the international black market
is now turning to African species.

Hundreds of thousands of African
pangolin scales are being illegally

shipped out of the continent.

This increased trafficking means
more confiscations

and more pangolins in need
of Maria's help.

THUNDER RUMBLES

She has to be prepared for
the worst,

so she's building for the future.

I basically sold just about
everything I own.

My family thought I was
absolutely mad,

and my mother was terrified that
I was going to be on the street,

but it was absolutely the best
decision I've ever made.

With help from charitable donations,

Maria is building a bespoke
rehabilitation centre.

We now have a permanent home.

It's about 300 hectares,

so we've got enough room for animals
to move around in.

In order to save money, I'm actually
the architect and the designer

and I'm also the site manager.

This centre has to become one of
the leading centres for pangolins.

Not for our reputation,

but simply because there's pangolins
that need care in this country.

And there's no other place to do it.

Maria will soon be able to house
more rescued pangolins.

But to ensure they're well fed,

she will need help
walking them every day.

Fortunately, one recent arrival is
already making a big difference.

Steven is this amazing young man who
walked into our lives out of the

blue. We moved to this new area,
and he saw our vehicle,

and he approached one of my
students, and basically said,

"I want to work for these people."

And he's been here for about
six months

and you would have thought
he's been here for 20 years.

Honey Bun adores Steven.

And he adores her.

I feel like it's not a job.

It's something...

..God wanted me to do.

Now, Steven has the responsibility
of walking Honey Bun everyday.

Where she goes, he must follow.

Not easy in the dense bush.

And it's clear who's really
in charge.

She's the boss.

With Steven on board,
things are looking up for Maria.

But every day, it seems there is
more bad news for pangolins.

Yesterday's paper, big confiscation
of elephant ivory,

but also pangolins, so it's just
getting worse and worse every day.

In the last couple of months, even,

we're seeing a lot more
confiscations going on.

It's probably a good thing,

in that at least the authorities are
catching people,

but I suspect a lot of it is not
just due to authorities being really

jacked up, it's due to a lot more
trafficking going on.

Two nights ago, our canine unit was
able to detect something

more valuable than ivory.

These are pangolin scales.

And it seems the problem is getting
closer to home.

Where's the wire? This one.

Steven has found evidence of
snare traps.

Maria, I've got two wires again
here, one has got a loop.

There.

That's 100% it.

Ah! You see, there's the loop.

That goes in right like...

All right. Oh, man.

Any animal puts its head through,

and then as it gets
its shoulders through,

and the shoulders are too big, the
wire closes in around their neck.

So it's quite a, quite
a violent, um, death.

SHE SIGHS

If I didn't love my car
so much, I would kick it.

Just...

That somebody thinks they have the
right to come onto my property and

kill my animals, and Steven's
animals, it's, it's...

..it's just wrong.

As Maria is fighting to protect
her own backyard,

there are more cries for help from
further afield -

and they're growing increasingly
disturbing.

I just had this gentleman
write to me.

He was travelling through Angola,

now he's just sent me
a bunch of pictures,

and they're a bunch of pangolins
hanging from a wire.

And they're in different positions
in every picture.

I just thought it was a...

..whole set of different pictures,
then I realised...

..that these pangolins are alive.

Yeah. I had to tell him to leave
the pangolins there.

We can't smuggle pangolins,

we can't be thought to be
smuggling pangolins.

Um...

We've got to work within
the parameters of our laws

and our government's and our
agreements with other countries.

INTERVIEWER: How does that feel?

Um...

Very disempowering
and really frustrating.

You know, it's not enough
to just save Honey Bun.

It's not going to help us to make
changes here in Africa

and we don't stop the Asian market.

The Asian market is the key market.

And if we can slow that down,
or start to put a stop to that,

that's going to solve
a lot of our problems.

Sometimes you just feel like this
one little person in this big,

big ocean.

For Maria, the time has come
to take action.

She is going to journey into the
very heart of the pangolin crisis.

Asia's gone through what Africa's
going to start going through.

What's important now is
that I go over there

and I learn as much as I can.

My reception just goes out,

I'm very lucky to have reception
at the moment.

She's reaching out to people in Asia
who, like her,

are working on the front line.

I'm not the only person
trying to save pangolins.

There's not a lot of people.

We all know each other's names.

Very few of us have ever met.

But Maria is also hoping
she can do something

to combat the demand for pangolins.

In Asia, we're looking at
the end consumer.

So if we can figure out with
the Asians any way to stop

that end consumerism,

then we can stop the poaching
over here.

It's the longest I'll ever have been
away, from Steven and Honey Bun,

and I think Steven's terrified!

But he's going to be fine.

He'll be perfect and I'm
a phone call away if he needs me.

But I think he's going to be
perfect.

If you need anything, just call, OK?

Yes.

You'll do great,
I'm really proud of you, OK?

I'm going to miss Honey Bun
terribly.

Take good care of her.
She's a part of my life,

she's been part of my life for
so many months and years now that

I'm going to miss her.

Maria's mission will take her
over 6,000 miles from home...

..to a completely different world.

The first thing I thought of when I
came to Vietnam is the colour green.

You know, I'm coming from one of the
driest countries in the entire world

to one of the wettest areas,
so there's just water everywhere,

and the colour green
is just everywhere.

Maria wants to prepare herself for
the challenge of rescuing more of

Africa's pangolins.

So she is here to meet someone who's
been leading the fight to save the

Asian species.

Thai Van Nguyen is a world leader in
pangolin conservation.

How are you doing? Oh, great!

Oh, Thai, how...

It's amazing to finally meet you
and be here.

Thai runs an organisation called
Save Vietnam's Wildlife.

Based in the forests of the
country's oldest national park...

..his team is dedicated to rescuing
and rehabilitating the world's most

endangered species of pangolins.

Meeting Thai has been
a dream come true.

He's exactly what I wanted him to
be, you know, this sort of kindred

spirit that has dedicated,
basically, his life to pangolins.

What a pleasure to meet somebody
else that makes you realise that

you're not so crazy after all.

I can't wait to see some of
the Asian pangolins.

Hiya. Hi.

Hi, I'm Maria.

Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Maddie.

Hi, Maddie, nice to meet you.

Welcome! Welcome to Vietnam.
Thank you.

Animal manager Maddie is keen to
show Maria

some of Honey Bun's Asian cousins.

SHE WHISPERS: Oh, she's beautiful!

This is a Sunda pangolin.

Do you want to put her on
the scales?

This adult female has been at
the centre for five weeks

and is being prepared for release.

Is this hair? Yeah, so the
difference between the African and

the Asian ones is that the Asian
ones have hair between the scales.

Her back feet have much longer claws
than our Cape.

Our Cape, the back feet don't
have claws. Just the front. Really?

Yeah. Wow! She is...
She's absolutely gorgeous.

Unlike the Cape pangolins that
Maria knows...

..the Sunda spends much of its life
in the trees.

It's the most widely distributed
species in Asia.

But, as a result of illegal trade,
it's now critically endangered.

Sophisticated criminal networks
smuggle pangolins from the forests

of Southeast Asia
and across borders.

Roughly 10% are intercepted by
authorities.

But the vast majority
slip through the net.

The trade is worth hundreds of
millions of pounds.

Save Vietnam's Wildlife is a
lifeline for pangolins rescued from

the black market.

They've received over 400
this year alone.

And more are arriving all the time.

15 Sunda pangolins were confiscated

near the Vietnamese border
with China.

The team assess the surviving
animals for any sign of injury.

They've all been vomiting
a yellow substance.

And what is the yellow indicating?

That they were force-fed?

Yep. That is the tubes where they
tried to put inside the belly of the

pangolin and put through the mouth.

So you can see this here.

THEY SPEAK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE
ON THE RECORDING

These pangolins were destined
for the dinner table

and force-fed to increase
their weight and price.

Every single one of these pangolins
went through that same thing?

Yeah. So they were all handled
by a bunch of loud, noisy people,

pumping things, rice,
into their stomach? Yeah.

When frightened, a pangolin's first
defence is to roll

into a protective ball.

But this makes it easy prey for
poachers.

Most of the animals are, mercifully,
free from injury.

But one young male is in
real trouble.

His back leg has been severed,
most likely by a snare.

Oh, my gosh.

Would you give him a pretty
good chance of survival?

The amount of animals coming in,
it's almost overwhelming.

If the demand continues to increase
in Asia like it is now,

then Africa's heading for this type
of situation,

which means the confiscations are
not going to be one or two animals,

they're going to be
ten or 20 animals.

Exactly what Thai is dealing with.

If I envision that happening at
our centre, we'd have a really,

really difficult time.

It would be impossible for Maria to
cater for the number of pangolins

that Thai's team handles in a year.

But there's one big advantage
here...

..readily available food.

They can buy frozen ant pupae, a
popular snack for people in Asia.

Unfortunately, they're too expensive
for Maria to import back home.

I can't imagine you have to walk
five hours per animal.

Yeah, I can't imagine you get to
open your freezer!

Yeah! Wow!

Ant nests can also be collected from
the trees - if you can reach them.

They're like little packaged dinners
for the pangolins.

This would never be something
we could do in Namibia.

Unfortunately, all our ants are in
the ground, so, you know,

we would basically have to decimate
a one metre area

and by the time we've done that,
to get that piece of ground out,

the ants are going to be forming,
you know, poison for the pangolins,

and it'll never work.

But there is one area where Maria
can learn a lot from this team -

pangolin surgery.

The young male with a missing leg
has been sedated

and is about to undergo
a life-saving operation.

Last night,
he showed an amazing attitude.

He is, he's a plucky little guy.

All the more courage to him.

Pangolins are so rarely kept in
captivity that procedures like this

are not common practice.

For the vets, each one is
a new experience.

This is like doctors working in
a war zone.

They've got patient after patient
after patient

and so they have to learn to work
very quickly,

they have to learn to determine
exactly what's wrong

and what they're going to be able
to do about it,

and that's what these guys
have been dealing with.

It's made them very, very good
at what they do.

I was actually writing notes to
myself - blood pressure, heart rate,

on the amount of gas that
they're using.

The operation has gone
extremely well...

..and the patient
is starting to stir.

His missing leg means
he can't be released.

So, when he recovers,

he will be given the best possible
life at the centre.

But for animals deemed fully fit,

the aim is always to get them
back out in the wild.

Today, nine Sunda pangolins are
going home.

The team have driven for over
ten hours...

..to a specially selected
remote jungle.

They must just not really know
what's going on,

but that second that they come out,

and they realise they're actually
going back out into the wild,

I mean, this is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity.

To give the pangolins a fighting
chance of evading poachers...

..the team are heading into the
inaccessible heart of the forest.

Pangolins are solitary, so the team
must release the animals

at different points
throughout the jungle.

As night falls,

it's time for the first of the nine
pangolins to taste freedom.

I tell you, Thai, I would walk
three times up a mountain

just to see that.

One down, eight to go.

As the hours pass, one by one...

..the rest of the pangolins
emerge...

..and then vanish into the forest.

Well, I'm cold and I'm wet, I'm
covered in mud and mosquito bites

and I've been pulling leeches
off myself,

but it's one of the most memorable
experiences

I've ever had in my life.

For the team,
it's been a very long night.

But these animals now have a second
chance for a life in the wild.

As Maria leaves Vietnam,

her thoughts turn to her
beloved African pangolins.

To better understand their fate
in this growing illegal trade,

she's heading west.

I must say, it's
completely overwhelming.

The number of people, the number of
cars, the colours, the signs.

It's very, very different than home.

In the last few years,

Thailand has emerged as a key
transit country for illegal wildlife

contraband from Africa.

Thai authorities are cracking down
hard on wildlife crime.

But, despite these efforts,
the problem is clearly escalating.

Come in.

This doctor is showing Maria
evidence from a recent raid.

1060kg? Yeah.

You found giant...

And tree pangolins.

I mean, there are probably 50 to 100
pangolins in each of these bags.

Yeah.

If not more.

Today, 80% of pangolin scales
confiscated from the global

black market are from
African animals.

It's a lot of pangolins.

Yeah. A lot of pangolins.

In Africa, we're hearing about the
fact that our scales are coming to

Asia and we see pictures of it,
but to touch those bags

and know that the babies that I work
with were in there...

..and just to envision how they must
have died...

..was...was tough.

Can I see some of them?

Well, these are -
they're definitely African.

That'd be down there by the tail

and this is their defence mechanism.

It's quite sharp,
almost like a knife.

Often, you can tell individual
pangolins by the colour, too.

So that's probably three different
pangolins.

Yeah.

I'm afraid you're actually going to
open these

and you're going to find even more
than two species.

You know, we've got four species in
Africa,

you could very well have all four
species here,

and you could very well have
our Cape pangolin.

You know, every pangolin scale that
I looked at today...

..I thought about Honey Bun...

..and, you know,
it's hard not to do that.

You're supposed to stay unemotional,
you're a scientist,

but I'm a conservationist
before I'm a scientist

and I've been fortunate enough to
hold these little creatures alive in

my hands, so it's hard not to
envision them in those dead scales.

Maria cannot help
but think of home and Honey Bun.

PHONE RINGS

PHONE CONTINUES RINGING

Hello, Maria! Hi, Steven!
How are you?

Very well, very well, it's good to
hear from you!

Tell me, how's Honey Bun doing?

Honey Bun is really eating well.

Yesterday, she ate around 56 times.

Oh, just hearing your voice makes me
want to come home right now.

Thank you very much, goodbye!

OK, bye. All right.

Let's go, Honey Bun.
Honey Bun, come.

Come! Let's go.

Let's go.

Oh, let's go! Yes!

It was just so nice to hear
Steven's voice.

Let's go. All right.

Maria was just calling
and greeting you.

Let's go now.

Yeah, it makes me want to get into
a plane and just go home and see how

everybody's doing myself.

But Maria won't go home just yet.

There is one more destination
she must visit.

The end of the line for the majority
of trafficked African pangolins.

In 2017, Chinese customs officials
intercepted the largest illegal

shipment of scales on record.

Pangolin scales are one of
the oldest traditional

Chinese medicines and even as
recently as last year were listed

by practitioners as a cure for
the symptoms of cancer.

Scales from historic stockpiles can
legally be prescribed in hospitals.

But as long as there is a demand for
pangolin products,

there will be a black market.

You can't help but observe the fact
that there's this really,

really ancient culture here...

..sort of in conjunction with this
really, really modern culture.

I think if the change is going
to come here,

it's going to come through
the younger people.

And that's why Maria has come
to China -

to join forces with a highly
influential young woman...

..who's taking a bold approach to
addressing the demand

for pangolin products.

She is one of China's biggest
megastars.

An actress...

..a model...

..and icon -

Angelababy.

KNOCKING

Hello! Hi, Angela, nice to meet you!

Nice to meet you, Maria!

With over 80 million online
followers...

..she's been using her considerable
public profile

to seek help for pangolins.

Angelababy's a perfect ambassador
for pangolins.

She's hitting this whole new young
generation, people really love her,

and she's very, very well known on
this continent.

It's a great story and it's
literally Honey Bun's story.

So the little pangolin that I have,
that's exactly her story,

and it happens over and over
and over.

Wow, wow!

Yeah, it's a long tongue.

Wow. Yeah, their tongue is almost
as long as their body.

Maria is keen to introduce
Angelababy to Honey Bun.

Wow! How old is she?

She is actually about a year
and eight months now.

A year and eight months? Yeah.

Oh, so cute!

Look how they walk! They walk
almost like dinosaurs. Yes!

Very slowly. Yeah.

I like this.
POPPING

She's thinking,
"Which way should I go?"

They're so cute with their hands!

Angela's going to bring a totally
different perspective for the entire

campaign of saving pangolins.

Pangolins definitely need
that high profile.

The rhino have gotten it,
the elephant have gotten it

and pangolins have sort of been
left behind.

This journey has been phenomenal,

but I'm ready to pack my bags again
and get on that flight home.

But Maria's work is far from done.

Hi, Brad!

Maria! My dog is
the official greeter!

Maria's meeting in China has
resulted in an exciting opportunity.

Oh, I'm so glad you're here.

Angelababy is starring in a new
charity campaign for pangolins,

to be rolled out across the globe.

And she'll be joined by another
very special leading lady...

..Honey Bun.

If you think about all
the major conservation efforts

in the world, most of them have
started because of great footage.

Or a classic picture.

I honestly believe in my heart that
the only way we're going to save

pangolins is to introduce them to
the mass public.

Renowned wildlife cameraman Brad
Bestelink has come to film with

Honey Bun.

You're going to see about the pace
that she walks, I mean...

Funny little tummy!

Not many people get to see
a pangolin tummy!

She's quick here. Yeah, she's
real quick. She really moves.

I mean, she's hurrying down there.

Stay with me.

Stay with me.

Brad is ready to give Honey Bun
her close-up.

But that's easier said than done.

Stick with us.

It's a lot harder work
than I thought. You know,

they're moving incredibly quickly
through the bush

and you've got to really
scratch around to keep up.

It may be tricky work,

but filming a pangolin so at ease
is a privileged opportunity.

I've spent the best part of
20 years in the bush.

I've seen three in my lifetime,
twice when I was filming,

once when I was child.

It's just great to spend
a little bit of time

with a pangolin just getting on
with its normal life, you know?

It's just so unusual,
it's really special.

The power of these rare images
can't be overestimated.

They will showcase pangolins as
never before.

Hi, Maria! Hi, Maddie, how are you?

I'm good, thanks, how are you?
Ah, pretty good...

I think, before I went to Asia,

sometimes I felt like I was...
not a ship alone,

but sort of a ship alone in
a big sea.

And now I've realised there's
lots of ships out there.

Hi, Ellen! How are you? Good.

How's the little baby that they did
that operation on - with the leg?

He's doing really, really well.

Oh, that makes me so happy!

Maybe some of us were working
a little bit individually

and now I think we're a bit more of
a cohesive unit.

And I think that's going to be
really important for the future of

conservation with pangolins.

With these new-found friendships,
Maria is now firmly part

of the international effort to
save pangolins.

And her new sanctuary is getting
closer to completion every day.

But it is Honey Bun's recent
collaboration with Angelababy that

could have the biggest impact
of all.

The campaign has been launched
online

and viewed in China over 25 million
times in just the first day.

Honey Bun may not know it...

..but she's now a global ambassador
for her kind.

But even as the campaign is making
waves around the world,

day-to-day life for this celebrity
remains the same.

The seasons are changing.

Spring rains are on the way.

Oh, Honey Bun loves this time
of year.

So she's going to be going
much deeper,

she's going to be finally able to
get into those ant eggs...

..which are full of nutrients.

It's actually really nice to
anticipate how she's going to look

in a couple of months.

She's going to gain some weight and
she's going to gain some length

and she's going to turn into
a young adult.

As Honey Bun grows up,

she will reveal more precious
secrets about her species.

But there will come a time for her
to leave Maria

and live as a wild animal.

In order to prepare her for
the wild, we start pulling back.

And it's not just a physical way of
pulling back,

it's also a mental way of
pulling back.

I've got to start letting her go.

Hey, HB, what are you doing?

She's actually digging a deep hole,
even deeper.

This is all really great preparation

for her going back
out into the wild.

As the sun starts to set,

she's realising she needs to prepare
for the night.

If she were in the wild,
she'd go to sleep right there.

She's growing up and she's becoming
more and more independent of me

and in a way it's kind of sad,

and in a way it's really exciting.

So, you know, it's all about that
day that I'm going to say, you know,

"Hey, babe, you're on your own."

She's actually sucking my fingers
like she used to suck a bottle.

She hasn't done this in ages.

There's just these moments like this
that are so endearing

because they take us back, you know,

a year and a half when she would
have been suckling milk out of her

little bottle and I would have been
holding her like this.

And there's not many of those
moments any more,

but once in a while, they just
hit you, and it's...

It's really like going back in time.

If the pangolin went extinct in
the wild,

I've failed.

And if we're going to
fail on that,

then what else are we going to
fail on?

Not, not on my watch.

Not on my watch.

PHONE RINGS

SHE SPEAKS IN HER OWN LANGUAGE