Estimating occupancy of Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) in a protected and non‐protected area of Nepal

Abstract

Chinese pangolin is the world's most heavily trafficked small mammal for luxury food and traditional medicine. Although their populations are declining worldwide, it is difficult to monitor their population status because of its rarity and nocturnal behavior. We used site occupancy (presence/absence) sampling of pangolin sign (i.e., active burrows) in a protected (Gaurishankar Conservation Area) and non‐protected area (Ramechhap District) of central Nepal with multiple environmental covariates to understand factors that may influence occupancy of Chinese pangolin. The average Chinese pangolin occupancy and detection probabilities were trueΨ^ ± SE = 0.77 ± 0.08; truep^ ± SE = 0.27 ± 0.05, respectively. The detection probabilities of Chinese pangolin were higher in PA ( truep^ ± SE = 0.33 ± 0.03) than compared to non‐PA ( truep^ ± SE = 0.25 ± 0.04). The most important covariates for Chinese pangolin detectability were red soil (97%), food source (97.6%), distance to road (97.9%), and protected area (97%) and with respect to occupancy was elevation (97.9%). We recommended use of remote cameras and potentially GPS collar surveys to further investigate habitat use and site occupancy at regular intervals to provide more reliable conservation assessments.

Distribution of Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) in Nagarjun forest of Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park, Nepal

“…The occurrence of Chinese pangolin was found under the moderate dense canopy cover (25% -50%) probably for getting more termites and ants, and easier to construct burrows due to less litter fall on the ground. Our finding corroborates with other findings of Bhandari and Chalise (2014), Dorji et al (2016), Katuwal et al (2017) and Sharma et al (2020b). The higher density of termites and other prey species occur in drier areas under the canopy cover <50%, and potentially it prevents the excessive soil erosion (Hemachandra et al 2014, Katuwal et al 2017.…”

“…In addition, the occurrence of Chinese pangolin in this area might also be influenced from the people's movement for pilgrim visit. Generally, their detection probability is low in human dominated landscape (non-protected area) than low human influenced area (protected area) (Sharma et al 2020b). The occurrence of Chinese pangolin was found under the moderate dense canopy cover (25% -50%) probably for getting more termites and ants, and easier to construct burrows due to less litter fall on the ground.…”

“…The burrows that were less deep visually with small opening hole were classified as feeding burrows (Mahmood et al 2013). Likewise, the burrows that had leaves, spider webs, dry and compact soils were considered to be passive burrow and the burrow that had fresh, loose soil and fresh scratched marks were taken as active burrows (Suwal 2011, Katuwal et al 2017, Sharma 2017, Sharma et al 2020b. A square plot of 10 m × 10 m was established keeping burrow at the centre of the plot for collecting information on habitat covariates.…”

Distribution and habitat preferences of the Chinese Pangolin Manis pentadactyla (Mammalia: Manidae) in the mid-hills of Nepal

“…We recorded slope, aspect, elevation, canopy, and habitat information in each plot, which are influencing factors for the Chinese Pangolin occurrence (Katuwal et al 2017;DNPWC & DoF 2018;Sharma et al 2020b). However, the present study was not able to include all influencing factors such as food, nearest distance to road and other anthropogenic factors because of financial and time constraints.…”

“…J TT cover by using a crucial mobile application (Gap Light Analysis Mobile Application) (Tichy 2016; Sharma et al 2020b) and categorized into open (0-50%) and close (50-100%) canopy. We identified the habitat types into forest, shrubs, grassland, and agricultural land.…”