Abstract In Asia, pangolins have generated a rich set of indigenous oral traditions. These contrast with the often confused, or failed, colonial and Western scientific practices of classifying, domesticating and collecting the pangolin. More recently this long-standing encounter between the pangolin and human has shifted into exponential killing. The pangolin has become the mammal which is most trafficked by humans. This trade has been a global one, a fact that is important to remember given the racist ideas and inequalities that have been highlighted through the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. The changing relationship between the pangolin and the human in modern history is used here as a window onto the interlinked histories of the pandemic and environmental crisis, both of which arose partly from human encroachment into biodiverse and forested areas, including pangolin habitats. The phases of the pangolin–human relationship can be read for the preconditions of these interlinked crises that face the planet and its historians in 2020. It is vital that historians respond confidently and fully to causation at the interspecies frontier without using the pandemic to mount theoretically naive ‘compare and contrast’ exercises with past disease events to provide lessons for the present. A post-pandemic historiography will surely be interdisciplinary, with critical, philosophical and collaborative engagement with scientists.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 的人类、动物和史前史*

摘要 在亚洲，穿山甲产生了丰富的土著口述传统。这些与经常混淆或失败的殖民和西方科学分类、驯化和收集穿山甲的做法形成鲜明对比。最近，穿山甲与人类之间的这种长期遭遇已经转变为指数级的杀戮。穿山甲已成为人类走私最多的哺乳动物。这种贸易一直是全球性的，鉴于 COVID-19 大流行的经验凸显了种族主义思想和不平等，这一事实很重要。现代历史中穿山甲与人类之间不断变化的关系在这里被用作了解大流行和环境危机相互关联的历史的窗口，这两者部分源于人类侵入生物多样性和森林地区，包括穿山甲栖息地。可以解读穿山甲与人类关系的各个阶段，以了解 2020 年地球及其历史学家面临的这些相互关联的危机的先决条件。至关重要的是，历史学家必须自信而全面地应对种间边界的因果关系，而无需在理论上利用大流行病蔓延天真的“比较和对比”练习与过去的疾病事件，为现在提供经验教训。大流行后的历史编纂肯定是跨学科的，与科学家进行批判性、哲学性和协作性接触。至关重要的是，历史学家必须对种间边界的因果关系充满信心和充分地做出反应，而不要利用大流行来进行理论上幼稚的“比较和对比”与过去的疾病事件的练习，为现在提供经验教训。大流行后的历史编纂肯定是跨学科的，与科学家进行批判性、哲学性和协作性接触。至关重要的是，历史学家必须对种间边界的因果关系充满信心和充分地做出反应，而不要利用大流行来进行理论上幼稚的“比较和对比”与过去的疾病事件的练习，为现在提供经验教训。大流行后的历史编纂肯定是跨学科的，与科学家进行批判性、哲学性和协作性接触。