The scales from pangolins have increased a lot in value, and it is now the most illegally trafficked animal in the world

The pangolins (Pholidota spp.) are very strange mammals that have a unique trait – they have big keratin scales that cover their entire body. This nocturnal animal mostly feeds on larvae and small insects, and spend the day in hiding in hollow trees or burrows (depending on the species). It does not really get into much trouble with bigger predators, but when it does, it curls up like an armadillo to protect itself from the attacks with its powerful scales.

Manis javanica, one of the pangolin species. Image by Piekfrosch at German Wikipedia, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

There are currently 8 living species of pangolins, and these are found in the sub-Saharan Africa, as well as parts of Asia such as China, Vietnam and India.

The pangolins have many problems in the wild, and just like most other mammals they are facing huge problems due to deforestation and habitat fragmentation. They also face another deadly foe, and that is poachers and hunters. This order of animals is actually the most trafficked wildlife species in the world these days, beating rhinos, elephants, sharks and other species who is known to be smuggled.

In their defensive position. Image by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Learning more about the trafficking of pangolins

A new study tried to find out high the hunting pressure on the pangolins actually is, and the researchers from University of Stirling focused on the country Gambia. Here the hunting and local consumption of the pangolins is legal, but large-scale killing of them for export is not.

What they found is that scales from the pangolins are being exported out of Africa and into Asia. Most of them are hunted by local people who sell the meat to other locals or eat it themselves, but sell the scales to Asian workers who are living in Africa. Some even sell the entire animal to the Asian markets, since the meat that is considered bushmeat in Africa is in fact considered to be a luxurious type of meat in Asia.

The scientists then further found out that these Asian-African workers who bought the dead pangolins had ties with organizations that were smuggling wildlife products out of Africa and in to Asia. The route used was the same as the ones for ivory, so it is pretty safe to assume that it is the same criminal organizations that is doing both these two things.

Why are the pangolins even being smuggled out of Africa?

The short answer is that the scales of the pangolin is made from keratin – the same substance that is found in whale baleen and rhino horns. As you might know, these two things are also highly sought after in western medicine for their apparent healing properties, but these claims of healing is of course not backed by science. However, some people in Asia believes that the scale can be grinded to a powder and consumed, and will cure cancer and asthma, and cause people to begin lactation when expecting babies.

There are pangolins in China and other parts of Asia, but on this continent the hunting pressure has been higher for the last few decades, so they are almost slipping into local extinction. However, as of right now the populations in Africa is not facing immediate extinction, but it might not be safe for that long if the Asian markets keep paying high prices to get them smuggled into China.

Using their scales for body armor is not really common anymore, but it was apparently very sought after in the 19th century. Only very rich people could afford these things. Image is Public Domain.

Inflation of value in pangolin products

The researchers also found out that the price for pangolin meat has increased by as much as 211 % for one species, and almost doubled for others in only 15 years. This is a much higher increase than the local inflation, so the demand for pangolin is clearly increasing on the local scale. This is of course further increasing the threats for the animals, because now it is more profitable for the hunters to kill them.

Conservation efforts for the pangolins

The pangolin has been well-known to face big threats from the western medicine market, and the IUCN recently reevaluated all the pangolin species to make sure they were not considered to be more healthy than they actually were. This put all the species in one of the categories that were threatened with extinction, and this has of course allowed lawmakers to put stricter laws in place to protect them.

They have also received a protection against being exported out of the African continent, but as this study finds out, this does not really help if they are just being smuggled out anyway.

Direct conservation efforts that benefit the pangolins is also very difficult, mainly because they are elusive animals that we don’t really know that much about. They have a very strict diet, and are highly susceptible to disease, so breeding them in captivity is almost impossible, so breeding programs are mostly out of the questions.

It seems to me that the best strategy for keeping them around would be to tighten the border patrols, and keep them educated about the pangolins, as well as trying to educate the Chinese marked about the problems that the ecosystem will face if they keep buying these wildlife products. If we are somehow able to stop the demand in China, many species such as the pangolins and rhinos will be saved from extinction, but this is obviously very difficult.

Thanks for reading

Thanks for reading my post about the pangolins! I hope you found it interesting to learn about these animals, and why they are being killed and smuggled into Asia.

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