Richard Collins: It’s time to expel superstition about pangolins

It is easier to accept a convincing new idea than to banish an old false one. 

Dumping deeply entrenched notions is exceedingly difficult; many of today’s violent conflicts are rooted in delusions persisting from the Dark Ages.

Attitudes to nature are no different. One old chestnut, the Doctrine of Signatures, continues to wreak havoc on vulnerable wild creatures. It even threatens to render some of the world’s most iconic species extinct.