Episode 67
Guest: Daniel J. Cox, Award-Winning Wildlife Photographer and Director of The Arctic Documentary Project for Polar Bears International
Guest: Tim Santel, Retired Special Agent in Charge (SAC), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement; Senior Advisor & Media Relations Director, Focused Conservation
What if the very thing that once protected you… is the thing that’s now keeping you stuck? And what happens when the world changes faster than your instincts can?
In this episode of Resilience Gone Wild, host Jessica Morgenthal takes us into the moonlit grasslands of Botswana, following the quiet, deliberate life of the pangolin—a living fossil with nature’s most powerful mammal armor. For more than 60 million years, the pangolin’s perfect defense was simple: curl into an unbreakable ball and wait out danger.
Then humans changed the rules.
Today, pangolins are the most trafficked mammals on Earth. Their scales—made of keratin, the same material as human nails and hair—are sold under false claims of medicinal power, and their meat is treated as a luxury. In a single human generation, the pangolin’s ancient protection became its vulnerability.
Jessica pairs this story with a gripping, grounded interview with Tim Santel, one of the most experienced wildlife trafficking investigators in U.S. history. Tim takes us inside the real-world mechanics of trafficking networks—how wildlife is moved like any other commodity, and why weak penalties and low enforcement capacity make illegal wildlife trade so attractive to criminal syndicates.
The resilience lesson is both tender and urgent: we all carry armor built for earlier seasons of life. Some of it still protects. Some of it now constricts. And sometimes resilience means doing the opposite of what we’ve always done—opening instead of closing, seeking new protection instead of relying only on the familiar.
Episode Overview
The episode opens in Botswana, tracing a pangolin’s sensory world—smell, vibration, memory, instinct—and the intelligence of a creature shaped by time. We learn how pangolins live, how they nurture their young, how they “read” the land, and how their scales evolved into the most formidable natural armor carried by any mammal.
Then the story turns: when human trafficking enters the ecosystem, the pangolin’s perfect curl—once a masterpiece—becomes an easy handle for capture and transport. Jessica reframes this as a human mirror: the coping strategies we built to survive earlier threats may not match the threats we face now.
Jessica welcomes Tim Santel to explore what it takes to protect species whose defenses can’t keep up with rapidly evolving human systems. Tim shares his path into wildlife law enforcement, the “voice for wildlife” moment that guided his career, and what he’s learned from decades of investigations into trafficking networks—from pangolin scales to rhino horns and beyond.
The episode closes with two practical reflection practices to help listeners reassess their own protections, and a call to action to support conservation organizations and on-the-ground enforcement efforts working to keep pangolins—and countless other species—from disappearing.
What You’ll Learn
• Why the pangolin’s greatest protection became its greatest vulnerability in a human-shaped world
• How “armor” shows up in our lives (withdrawing, micromanaging, bracing, overworking) and when it stops serving us
• What global wildlife trafficking networks have in common with other criminal trades—and why wildlife is so profitable
• The real cost of treating living beings as commodities
• Why awareness alone isn’t enough—and why frontline teams matter
• How to update your internal protections with intention, clarity, and courage
• Two practices for examining what still protects you… and what now constricts you
• How attention becomes action—and why action becomes hope
Episode Highlights
[00:00] A moonlit pangolin in Botswana—and the question of protection
[02:17] “A new season is opening…” and why this story feels personal
[02:45] Pangolins as living fossils: lineage, mothering, and the world of scent
[05:11] Intelligence as awareness: tremors, heat, memory maps, and escape artistry
[07:34] The quiet architecture of termite mounds—and the pangolin’s role in soil health
[10:01] When humans arrive: trafficking, false beliefs, and endangered collapse
[12:22] The resilience lesson: protections that once served us can later constrict us
[14:58] Welcome Tim Santel: protecting species that can’t protect themselves
[30:48] “When wildlife dies, it doesn’t make a sound…”...
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