By Purva Variyar
Pangolins are elusive, making them hard to track and harder to protect. These endangered mammals are widely poached for their scales. The Wildlife Conservation Trust’s collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department to gather ecological data and scientifically rehabilitate rescued and confiscated Indian pangolins back into the wild, is an attempt at building sound conservation strategies around this species, writes Purva Variyar.
She is there. Right there, inside a neatly dug-out borrow under those large boulders deep inside the Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. Previously acquired camera trap footage confirms that she has a pup with her. The strong beeps of the radio telemetry receiver and Hira’s (one of WCT’s trained conservation dogs) fine, attuned sense of smell tell us that she is there. But elusive, cautious, nocturnal and shy that she is, only a miracle could encourage her to emerge before us.
Very few people have seen pangolins in the wild. Many haven’t even heard of them. If they have, it is in the context of the illegal wildlife trade. Among the most heavily trafficked mammals in the world, pangolins’ armour of scales, a highly successful evolutionary adaptation that protects them from predators and natural elements in the wild, has become a bane in a world where humans are super-predators. Also called the scaly anteater, this unique mammal is endowed with an armour of metabolically inactive scales that have a chemical composition similar to that of human nails. Yet, misplaced beliefs, disinformation, and scientifically unproven claims have placed an astronomical value on pangolin scales in the black market, especially for use in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
MPFD and WCT staff releasing a tagged pangolin. The radio transmitter and GPS tracker are non-surgically affixed in such a way that they do not hinder movement or cause discomfort to the animal or its pup. Photo: WCT & MP Forest Department.
“The scale of the impact of poaching on species with no population estimates is revealed by the number of cases where a large consignment of pangolin scales weighing up to a couple of tonnes are confiscated in anti-poaching raids. Typically, in the case of crime against wildlife, the rate of detection is very low. Most illegal consignments elude the attention of enforcement agencies. Given that only a fraction of the raids are successful and that several consignments go undetected, the magnitude of poaching is much larger than what meets the eye,” explains Aditya Joshi, conservation biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT). Joshi heads WCT’s Conservation Research division. One of the projects he is leading focuses on developing an ecology-based conservation strategy for the Indian pangolin in Madhya Pradesh, a first-of-its-kind project designed around this species.
As the Indian pangolin is elusive and nocturnal and occurs at low densities, there is limited information available on its behaviour and ecology. It is vital to know the ecology of the species to develop an effective conservation plan for it.
“Despite protective measures, pangolins in India are widely exploited and traded both domestically and internationally. There has been a rise in the trade of live Indian pangolins as even locals who find a pangolin in the wild look for buyers in anticipation of high monetary returns. This has led to confiscation or seizures of several Indian pangolins, which are kept in poor conditions and starved for a long period on account of an extremely limited or faulty understanding of their ecology. This makes the task of successful rehabilitation of these pangolins a major conservation challenge,” Joshi further explains.
In collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD) and with the support of BNP Paribas India Foundation, WCT embarked on a unique conservation project in 2019. The main challenge in pioneering a scientific research project, for data-deficient species like Indian pangolins, is the lack of any precedent methodology to draw from.
Joshi adds, “However, as limited resources are available for conservation projects, it is critical to focus on key aspects of conservation issues of a particular species and build on them to have a greater impact on species conservation. The objective of our project is to understand the ecology of the Indian pangolin and develop an effective rehabilitation plan for rescued individuals.”
A map showing a survey track using detection dogs. The GPS collars fitted on the dogs help track the path, distance, and effort of every survey. Photo: WCT.
We make our way through bamboo thickets. All the rain-inflicted wetness has taken the edge off the crunch of dry leaves underfoot. One of the major challenges of field monitoring is tracking the animals in the monsoon season. Heavy rainfall transforms the landscape into a dense, slippery environment, making it harder to follow them. The disturbance caused by rainfall and storms makes it tough to monitor the radio signals and reduces the range at which signals can be received in the field.
After much climbing up and down the undulating terrain, we are yet to get a strong radio signal. One of the radio-tagged pangolins is on the move with her pup. We pass by a few of her now-abandoned burrows. After several minutes of tracking, the radio signal on our receiver gets louder as we warm up to her new location.
Joshi lets Hira take the lead in zeroing in on the pangolin’s precise location. He gives a specific command that tells Hira to focus on the pangolin scent. Canine nose pinned to the ground, Hira finally stops at the mouth of a neatly carved-out burrow and sits on her hindquarters, indicating that she has found the source of the scent. We converge at the spot along a slope under a pile of large boulders, and the frantic beeps on our radio receiver verify Hira’s claim. A classic pangolin hideout. While Joshi rewards Hira for a job well done, Rajesh Bhendarkar, a researcher on the team, notes down the GPS locations while two other field assistants promptly begin setting up camera traps to monitor the burrow.
Hira (left), one of WCT’s four conservation dogs, helps the team track a radio-tagged pangolin. Conventional conservation methods do not work in the undulating terrain of the Pench and Satpura Tiger Reserves, thus dogs have been enlisted for locating pangolin burrows and scat. Photo: Purva Variyar/WCT.
WCT and the MPFD are monitoring several pangolins in the wild in the Pench and Satpura Tiger Reserves. The radio-tagged individuals are offering deep ecological insights into their lives. “Using the spatial, ecological, and behavioural data of the species from the tagged individuals, we want to identify key factors essential for pangolin survival. This will help in the selection of ideal sites for the release of confiscated or rescued pangolins, and increase the success rate of rehabilitation,” explains Joshi.
In the project’s first year, the team successfully rehabilitated two Indian pangolins that had been confiscated from poachers. This classified as the first-ever case of using radio telemetry to monitor released individuals of this species in the wild.
Rescued or confiscated pangolins are first examined by wildlife veterinarians of the Forest Department and WCT before being fitted with a radio transmitter and GPS tracker, which are non-surgically affixed on two separate hard and inert scales in a way that does not hinder movement or cause discomfort to the animal or its pup. The tagged pangolins are then released at pre-identified sites based on habitat characteristics, where
the chances of them settling down are the greatest.
“We also tagged a wild pangolin female with a young one. This particular breeding female will provide valuable insights into the key factors essential for successfully raising young ones and thus, help to identify sites suitable for pangolin breeding,” Joshi says.
Indian pangolins are endangered, and yet are the most heavily trafficked mammals in the world. They are targeted for their scales and meat. Photo: Aditya Joshi/WCT.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach in field research. Sometimes conventional survey methods don’t work owing to a multitude of fluctuating variables. The undulating terrain of Pench and Satpura Tiger Reserves, for instance, makes it difficult to detect burrows using conventional methods.
“We have trained two conservation dogs in pangolin detection and trained them to locate pangolin burrows and pangolin scat. The dogs indicate the burrows and based on the activity level we set up camera traps to monitor those burrows,” Joshi goes on to explain. Analysing scat samples will help determine pangolin diet.
The WCT research team monitoring a radio-tagged pangolin in the field. Photo: Purva Variyar/WCT.
“Pangolins would come to us in a bad shape. As most people are unaware of the pangolin’s eating and living habits, the health of rescued or confiscated pangolins deteriorates rapidly in captivity, many succumbing to starvation, trauma, and stress,” says Dr. Prashant Deshmukh, Wildlife Vetrinarian, WCT. A significant component of the project has involved training the forest staff in basic pangolin ecology and care to give the rescued or confiscated pangolins a much better chance of survival.
“Such efforts are needed for the protection of this vulnerable and lesser-known species. The rise in market demand and poaching incidents are undeniably impacting their population. Long-term research will help us gather credible data and increase our knowledge of the species, which is a prerequisite for its conservation,” according to Ashok Mishra, former Field Director, Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh.
“One of the learnings from last year’s pangolin rehabilitation work was the role of transportation in effective rehabilitation and rescue. In most cases, the local forest staff lack the means to safely house and transport pangolins. As a makeshift arrangement, they are generally housed in wire-mesh cages designed to capture civets. This results in excessive stress and injuries to the pangolin,” Joshi explains.
To deal with this, Joshi and his team have designed transportation boxes keeping in mind the pangolin’s behaviour and needs. These boxes will help to alleviate undue stress befalling any pangolin being moved. WCT has donated these transportation boxes to the Forest Department and they are presently being used by the forest staff to securely transport rescued/confiscated pangolins.
A camera trap image of one of the radio-tagged pangolins carrying her young one. The young one of a pangolin, also known as a pangopup, clings on to its mother’s tail and rides atop her when she goes out foraging for ants and termites. This is an interesting survival strategy as when the mother senses danger and instantly curls up into a ball, the pup gets folded in along with her tail in a protective embrace. Photo: WCT & MP Forest Department.
WCT is currently working on a prototype for the safe housing of pangolins where individuals have to be kept in captivity for treatment or examination.
“Looking at the frequency with which live pangolins are being confiscated from illegal wildlife traffickers, there is an urgent need to design a safe holding area that mimics their natural habitat and ensures provisioning of food that constitutes specific species of ants. We are currently discussing the same with experts from countries that have managed to create such spaces and hope to construct something similar in collaboration with MPFD soon. When fully functional, this facility will be able to help traumatised and starved pangolins to regain strength before releasing them into the wild. Consequently, we will be able to reduce the mortality of confiscated or rescued pangolins by a magnitude,” explains Dr. Anish Andheria, President, WCT.
If we are to protect these unique animals, we need to know them better. At this critical juncture we are only beginning to unravel the complex lives of pangolins.
Purva Variyar is a Conservation and Science Writer with the Wildlife Conservation Trust. She has previously worked with Sanctuary Asia magazine and with the Gerry Martin Project.
