Pangolin distribution and conservation status in Bangladesh

Abstract

Asian pangolins are a highly-threatened species group, mainly due to the perceived medicinal value of their scales. Increased demand from China has resulted in pangolins being the most trafficked mammal in the world. Three pangolin species are reported to occur in Bangladesh: Manis pentadactyla, M. crassicaudata, and M. javanica. No peer-reviewed studies exist detailing these species’ current distribution or status within Bangladesh. A literature review was conducted resulting in the clarification of conflicting reports and misidentified observations and specimen records. In this paper, we also report the current status of pangolins (Manis spp.) in Bangladesh based on semi-structured interviews, camera trapping, media queries, and field surveys employing traditional ecological knowledge and non-randomized transect surveys. Ethnozoological knowledge pertaining to the natural history of M. pentadactyla is also reported from experienced Mro tribal hunters. The critically endangered M. pentadactyla was verified to occur in northwest, northeast, and southeast Bangladesh in natural and degraded habitats. Interviews with the Mro tribe in the southeast indicate that pangolin populations there were likely extirpated in 2014 due to skilled commercial collection beginning in 2010. Evidence of extant M. crassicaudata and M. javanica populations remain unverified and questionable, and historical records of M. crassicaudata and M. javanica are likely a result of misidentification.

A socio-economic survey of pangolin hunting in Assam, Northeast India

“…In accordance with increasing value elsewhere (e.g. Zhou et al 2014, Trageser et al 2017, the price obtained for scales during our survey in 2017 (taking account of inflation in India over the intervening time period, obtained from http://calculatorstack.com/inflation-calculator-india. php) was ten times that reported by Misra and Hanfee (2000) in 1997-1998 for scales sold at collection points or at trading centres.…”

“…(Challender 2011, Challender and Hywood 2012, Mambeya et al 2018, Gomez et al 2016, Heinrich et al 2016, Ingram et al 2017]. In addition, it has also become clear that pangolins in other range states such as India (Mohapatra et al 2015, Choudhary et al 2018, Nepal (Katuwal et al 2015, Thapa et al 2014, Pakistan (Mahmood et al 2017), Bangladesh (Trageser et al 2017) and Myanmar (Zhang et al 2017) are also being targeted by actors involved in the illegal international trade in these species. As such, all eight pangolin species are now listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (www.redlist.org) and, whilst the initial post-2000 trade from Africa was legal under CITES permits (CITES 2017), since 2016 (effective as of January 2017), all international commercial trade in wild-caught pangolins has been banned under their CITES Appendix I listing at the CITES Conference of the Parties 17 (https://cites.…”

Bloodlines: mammals, leeches, and conservation in southern Asia

“…Pholidota [pangolins] and Proboscidea [elephants]). Pangolins, while potentially present, are rapidly decreasing across much of their ranges (Trageser et al, 2017). Elephants were known from some localities in Cambodia and were found using camera traps in Bangladesh (Weiskopf et al, 2018), but are infrequent at best.…”

Transcriptomic analysis identifies genes and pathways related to myrmecophagy in the Malayan pangolin (Manis javanica)

“…gigantea, and S. temminckii , the genus Manis to the four Asian species while assigning the two African tree pangolin species to the genus Phataginus and the two terrestrial African pangolin species to the genus Smutsia (Du Toit Z et al, 2014; Gaudin, Emry & Wible, 2009). M. javanica is found mainly in Southeast Asia (Trageser et al, 2017). In pangolins, unlike other placental mammals, the skin is covered by large and overlapping keratinized scales (Meyer et al, 2013).…”

“…In addition to their ecological value, pangolins are extremely economically important animals. Pangolins are the most poached and trafficked mammal in the world because of the high demand for their meat, which is considered a delicacy, and their scales are used in traditional medicine (Trageser et al, 2017). …”