WORLD PANGOLIN DAY 2020
Many people think that elephant ivory or rhino horn is the most sought-after illegal wildlife product. In reality, it is the scales of the pangolin. On this World Pangolin Day, we’re sharing this story by our ecologist, Axel Hunnicutt, who describes the plight of the pangolin and how conservation groups in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa are doing everything they can to help these incredibly unique and endangered animals.
A regional Temminck’s Ground Pangolin. Photograph by Will Clothier.
Across the world the eight species of pangolin (four in Asia and four in Africa) comprise what is the most illegally trafficked mammal and one of the most critically endangered creatures on the planet. In the past decade, an estimated one million pangolins have been illegally smuggled from the wild to markets in South East Asia.
In Africa, one pangolin is poached from the wild every five minutes to satisfy demand.
Much like the rhino, it is the iconic feature of the pangolin that is sought after and used for traditional medicine; their scales. The only known mammal to be coated from snout to tail in a thick layer of scales composed of keratin, the pangolin roles into a ball when threatened by potential predators. An impenetrable sphere of scales to the inquisitive lion or leopard; but for the poacher a convenient and easily stowed harvest that puts up no resistance. Much like the dodo bird in its ease of capture, the pangolin is effortlessly collected from the wilds of Asia and Africa to quench the endless appetite of the traditional medicinal markets.
Forty three Sunda Pangolins rescued in 2015 from the Hoa Binh province in Vietnam. Photo by Ta Thi Thuong/WildScreen Exchange.
Remembering that one ton of scales is roughly equal to 1900 pangolins, the annual global confiscated weight of pangolins scales in 2018 was 68 tons (or 130,000 pangolins). Last April the largest single seized shipment was found in Singapore and exceeded 14 tons; estimated to contain nearly 36,000 pangolins. Make no mistake the pangolin is literally being eaten to extinction as you read this.
It has been nearly half a century since pangolins walked the ground in Zululand. Their tracks and burrows long gone, wiped from the natural history of the land by time, their name and legend washed from human knowledge. The pangolin was extinct in Zululand, gone forever never to be seen again or even remembered. A puzzle piece removed from the web of life in this ecosystem, by man.
That was until last year…
Together with the African Pangolin Working Group, AndBeyond have started the first reintroduction project for pangolins globally at Phinda Private Game Reserve in the Mun-Ya-Wana Conservancy. Pangolins confiscated in police raids from poachers and wildlife traffickers are treated and rehabilitated at the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital and then brought to Phinda. The research and monitoring teams at Phinda do an intensive soft release on the pangolins and then track them using VHF and satellite tags that are attached to the pangolin’s scales.
The Temminck’s Ground Pangolin, photographed at Phinda Private Game Reserve by Will Clothier.
The team at Phinda work around the clock to ensure the pangolins are both settled and safe; tracking the pangolins throughout the night through thick tick-infested bush. The men and women on the ground are giving it their all to see the pangolin return to where it once roamed free; to where it belongs.
When the first pangolins arrived at Phinda, few of us had ever seen one before or if we had it was in a different part of the country or the continent. The local Zulu staff had never seen anything like it and it took weeks to find someone who knew the name for it in their native isiZulu tongue. There is no accurate way to describe seeing a pangolin for the first time. They are all at once the most unusual, fascinating, and curious looking creatures you will ever gaze upon and sadly fast becoming the rarest living thing you’d ever have the good fortune to be in the presence of.
Little is known of these scaly anteaters; there is much research to be done on them and it must be done fast if reintroductions like the one at Phinda are to be successfully duplicated.
Wild Tomorrow Fund is proud to assist with this critically important project. In conjunction with Biologists Without Borders, this month multiple telemetry sets will be donated to the teams working on the reintroduction of pangolins to Zululand. One of the most pressing issues in releasing these animals is the ability to track them. The movement of each pangolin differs drastically and often they beeline in one direction for several days. What are they searching for; is it a specific habitat, a specific food source, or is it a call to return to the areas from which they were poached? We are not sure, but within the reserves in Zululand they are, for now, safe. Protected by the constant eye of dedicated teams of conservationists, researchers, ecologists, anti-poaching rangers; and a community of people who will stop at nothing to stop this gentle species from going quietly into the night of extinction.
Please help us by donating in support of the protection, conservation and re-introduction of the African pangolin in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa.
“On a personal note the pangolin is one of the most beautifully unusual creatures I have ever come across. Already from my limited observations and interactions with them in helping the Phinda team, you could write volumes about their unique physiology, ecology, and behavior. Each experience brings more questions about the animal itself and the future of its conservation. What I can say is that the pangolin is one of Africa’s most gentle creatures. At dusk they awake from their burrows and quietly wander the bush looking for ants and termites to forage on. Walking on their hind legs with their clawed front arms crossed, tucked into their chest in front of them, they appear to be miniature scaly Tyrannosauruses. However as unusual as they may appear, unlike the dinosaurs of the past, this is not the time for pangolins to leave this earth and seeing them return to Zululand may be the most satisfying conservation victory any of us may have the privilege to play a role in.”
- Axel Hunnicutt, Ecologist, Wild Tomorrow Fund