The pangolin is about to consume your thoughts and yank on your heartstrings. If you fell in love with the octopus, just brace yourself for this one.

On April 21, Netflix drops Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey, a documentary that follows the rescue and rehabilitation of a scaly, shy little creature you’ve probably never thought twice about. But once Kulu toddles into your life, you might not stop thinking about pangolins ever again.

Which is kind of the point.

The Netflix Effect Might Be the Best Shot Pangolins Have Left

“We’re hoping this documentary is also going to put pangolins on the map,” said Nicci Wright, a wildlife rehabilitation specialist and co-chair of the African Pangolin Working Group. “It’s the story of a relationship between a guy and a young pangolin, and we hope it will give people insight into pangolins’ quirky personalities and inner lives.”

And quirky they are. Pangolins look like an armadillo and a pinecone had a baby. They’re the only mammals fully covered in scales. They’re also incredibly shy—when threatened, they curl into an adorable little armored ball. It’s cute, yes. But tragically, that defense mechanism doesn’t do much to stop humans from snatching them up.

Pangolins are now critically endangered, hunted to the edge of existence because of their meat and scales—especially in Asia, where demand remains high. In 2019 alone, scales from an estimated 600,000 pangolins were seized en route from Africa to Asia. That number should make your stomach drop.

This is where Netflix’s global reach might actually do some good.

The so-called “Netflix effect” has a track record: My Octopus Teacher made people very emotional about cephalopods, and Tiger King didn’t exactly fix big cat ownership, but it definitely got everyone talking. If Kulu’s Journey can pull on the same heartstrings—and get viewers in Asia to pay attention—it might be the pangolin’s best shot.

Because here’s the truth: it’s not us who need to fall in love with the pangolin. It’s the consumers and traffickers who still see this timid, scaly creature as nothing more than an object.

Netflix does what few things can do these days: get people all over the world talking about the same thing. Let’s hope that this time, it’s a quiet, gentle mammal named Kulu.