A note on captive breeding and reproductive parameters of the Chinese pangolin, Manis pentadactyla Linnaeus, 1758

Zhang, Fuhua; Wu, Shibao; Zou, Cuiyun; Wang, Qiaoyun; Li, Shaoshan; Sun, Rong

doi:10.3897/zookeys.618.8886

Cited by 30 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Pangolins (body mass 2-33 kg, depending on the species) are solitary, nocturnal, insectivorous mammals that exist almost entirely on ants and termites that they eat with their elongated tongues (Macdonald et al 2004). They occur at low population densities (estimates of 0.2-1.0 individuals per km 2 , Mahmood et al 2014 and reproduce slowly (usually giving birth to a single young once a year (Mahmood et al 2015, Zhang et al 2016) -life history characteristics that render them vulnerable to overexploitation (e.g. Sodhi et al 2009).…”

Section: Pangolins and Their Tradementioning

confidence: 99%

Rise to fame: events, media activity and public interest in pangolins and pangolin trade, 2005–2016

Harrington¹,

D’Cruze²,

Macdonald³

2018

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Attention focused on pangolins (Pholidota) and the threats posed to their survival and welfare by international trade (for use in Chinese Traditional Medicine and the Asian wild meat market) has skyrocketed across all digital information platforms over the last decade. Previously obscure and often referred to as the ‘mammal you’ve never heard of’, pangolins are now widely recognised as an icon of the illegal wildlife trade. We document the events that led to the pangolins’ ‘rise to fame’, culminating in its Appendix I listing by CITES in September 2016 and a global commercial trade ban and explore temporal co-occurrence between events and peaks in media activity and public interest with the aim of identifying events (or types of events) that may have been influential in terms of awareness-raising. More broadly, our objective was to highlight lessons in public communication that might be applied to awareness campaigns for other lesser-known threatened species. We found no evidence that any particular type of event was more likely to generate a significant media/public response than any other, but peaks in public interest co-occurred with reports of pangolin seizures, highlighting the importance of news coverage of these incidents. Further, although neither editorial nor social media peaks were strongly correlated with the timing of events, they sometimes co-occurred with different events and each differed in their coverage of different types of events, suggesting that editorial and social media have independent and distinct roles to play in conservation communication. However, despite their iconic status, public interest in pangolins is still not equivalent to that directed at, for example, tigers, elephants or lions, so efforts need to be sustained. Finally, we note that, although attention can help to generate funds and influence policy, this alone will not be enough to achieve a favourable conservation status for pangolins – on-going and future work need to ensure that public enthusiasm for this species is translated into effective protection.

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Section: Pangolins and Their Tradementioning

confidence: 99%

Rise to fame: events, media activity and public interest in pangolins and pangolin trade, 2005–2016

Harrington¹,

D’Cruze²,

Macdonald³

2018

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“…In the course of finding new territory [38], pangolins might be injured as they pass through areas subjected to anthropogenic disturbances. A higher incidence of injury also occurred during the winter months from November to January (Fig 2), the reproduction season of the Chinese pangolin [39]. In short, pangolins face a greater risk of injury as their activity increases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality and morbidity in wild Taiwanese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla)

et al. 2019

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Globally, pangolins are threatened by poaching and illegal trade. Taiwan presents a contrary situation, where the wild pangolin population has stabilized and even begun to increase in the last two decades. This paper illustrates the factors responsible for causing mortality and morbidity in the wild Taiwanese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla) based on radio-tracking data of wild pangolins and records of sick or injured pangolins admitted to a Taiwanese wildlife rehabilitation center. Despite being proficient burrowers, results from radio-tracking show that Taiwanese pangolins are highly susceptible to getting trapped in tree hollows or ground burrows. Data from Pingtung Rescue Center for Endangered Wild Animals showed that trauma (73.0%) was the major reason for morbidity in the Taiwanese pangolin with trauma from gin traps being the leading cause (77.8%), especially during the dry season, followed by tail injuries caused by dog attacks (20.4%). Despite these threats, Taiwan has had substantial success in rehabilitating and releasing injured pangolins, primarily due to the close collaboration of Taiwanese wildlife rehabilitation centers over the last twenty years.

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“…Levels measured in this range of overlap cannot be used to determine pregnancy status in pangolins. In addition, the gestation length of Chinese pangolins reported by Chin et al (2011) is also controversial and may be an overestimation (Zhang et al, 2016). If so, the range of overlapping serum progesterone levels between pregnant and non-pregnant Chinese pangolins would be even larger.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Accurate pregnancy diagnosis and timely grasp pregnancy progress of female pangolin are not only conducive to scientific breeding management in pangolin conservation breeding, but also can provide basic information on pangolins. Pangolin body morphology shows no obvious changes during pregnancy (Mohapatra and Panda, 2014;Zhang et al, 2016), resulting in considerable difficulty with pregnancy diagnosis in captive pangolins. The lack of accurate pregnancy diagnosis methods may result in greater losses in captive breeding efforts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accurate pregnancy diagnosis can also conserve valuable male resources and improve the reproductive efficiency of captive pangolins by avoiding unnecessary mating attempts. However, morphological changes are not obvious during pangolin pregnancy (Mohapatra and Panda, 2014;Zhang et al, 2016), except for weight gain (Chin et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2016) and slight changes in the mammary glands in the later stage of pregnancy (van Ee, 1966;Heath and Vanderlip, 1988;Zhang et al, 2016). Therefore, pregnancy cannot be diagnosed accurately based on morphological changes alone, and it is necessary to look for more accurate methods of pregnancy diagnosis.…”

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confidence: 99%

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B-ultrasonography: An Accurate and Noninvasive Method for Pregnancy Diagnosis in Pangolins

Zhang¹,

Yu²,

Wu³

2021

PJZ

Self Cite

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Pregnancy diagnosis is critical to the management of captive breeding of wild animals, as accurate pregnancy diagnosis can improve the reproductive efficiency of captive animals. Pangolins do not show obvious morphological changes during pregnancy, which increases the difficulty of pregnancy diagnosis. In this study, pregnancies were diagnosed using B-ultrasonography in three Sunda pangolins (MJ-X2, MJ-X3, and MJ-X4) that had mated with males. B-ultrasonography revealed embryos in pangolins MJ-X2 and MJ-X3, but not in MJ-X4. Pangolins MJ-X2 and MJ-X3 gave birth to cubs 102 and 123 days, respectively, after B-ultrasound detection; pangolin MJ-X4 did not give birth to a cub. This study showed that B-ultrasound can accurately diagnose pregnancy in Sunda pangolins and detect the developmental status of their embryos and fetuses. As a method of pregnancy diagnosis, B-ultrasound is not only easy to operate, safe, and noninvasive, but also very intuitive and efficient compared with hormone detection methods. Efficient detection methods such as B-ultrasonography are critical to avoid housing alreadypregnant pangolins together with males, which may mate with the females again or stress them, resulting in abortion. This approach also helps to conserve male reproductive resources, thereby improving the reproductive efficiency of captive Sunda pangolins. Effective and efficient captive breeding programs are critical for the conservation of Sunda pangolins and other pangolin species.

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A note on captive breeding and reproductive parameters of the Chinese pangolin, Manis pentadactyla Linnaeus, 1758

Cited by 30 publications

References 24 publications

Rise to fame: events, media activity and public interest in pangolins and pangolin trade, 2005–2016

Rise to fame: events, media activity and public interest in pangolins and pangolin trade, 2005–2016

Mortality and morbidity in wild Taiwanese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla)

B-ultrasonography: An Accurate and Noninvasive Method for Pregnancy Diagnosis in Pangolins

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