They are hunted for their unique scales, and demand makes them the most trafficked mammal in the world.
On the occasion of World Pangolin Day, which is celebrated on Saturday, nature defenders are once again drawing attention to the plight of pangolins, shy, scaly anteaters that live in some areas of Africa and Asia.
Pangolins or their products outnumber any other mammal when it comes to wildlife smuggling, with more than half a million pangolins seized in anti-trafficking operations between 2016 and 2024, according to a report last year by CITES, the global authority on trade in endangered animal and plant species.
The World Wildlife Fund estimates that more than a million pangolins were captured in the wild in the last decade, including those that were never intercepted.
Pangolin meat is a delicacy in some places, but the driving force of the illegal trade is its scales, which are made of keratin, the protein also found in human hair and nails. The scales are highly sought after in China and other parts of Asia due to the unproven belief that they cure a number of ailments when made into traditional medicine.
There are eight species of pangolins, four in Africa and four in Asia. All of them face a high, very high or extremely high risk of extinction.
Although they are sometimes known as scaly anteaters, pangolins are not related to anteaters or armadillos.
They are unique because they are the only mammals covered completely in keratin scales, which overlap and have sharp edges. They are the perfect defense mechanism, allowing the pangolin to curl up into an armored ball that even lions have difficulty grasping, leaving the nocturnal ant and termite eaters with few natural predators.
But they have no real defense against human hunters. And from a conservation point of view, they don’t have the same resonance as elephants, rhinos or tigers, despite their fascinating complexities, such as their sticky insect-catching tongues being almost as long as their bodies.
Although some reports indicate a downward trend in pangolin trafficking since the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19continue to be poached at an alarming rate in some areas of Africa, according to conservationists.
Nigeria is one of the world’s hot spots. There, Dr. Mark Ofua, a wildlife veterinarian and West Africa representative for conservation group Wild Africa, has been rescuing pangolins for more than a decade, ever since he began scouring bushmeat markets for animals he could buy and save. He runs an animal rescue center and pangolin orphanage in Lagos.
Their mission is to raise awareness about pangolins in Nigeria through a wildlife show for children and a tactic to convince artists, musicians and other celebrities with millions of followers on social media to participate in conservation campaigns, or simply be seen with a pangolin.
Nigeria It is home to three of the four species of African pangolins, but they are not well known among the country’s 240 million people.
Ofua’s drive to publicize pangolins has its origins in an encounter with a group of well-dressed young men while transporting some pangolins he had rescued in a cage. The men pointed to them and asked what they were, Ofua says.
“They are baby dragons,” he joked. But it made him think.
“That admission has a dark side,” says Ofua. “If people don’t even know what a pangolin looks like, how are they protected?”