and rhino horn, have any physiological effects on
humans. But traditional medicine texts hold that
the scales can be effective at treating imbalances
in the body, such as “blood stasis,” a condition
that can bring on a stabbing or severe pain and
may be associated with menstrual disorders,
trouble with lactation, and arthritis.
As long as millions of people turn to tradi-
tional medicine for relief—and that number
is likely to increase because traditional Chi-
nese medicine is set to become an official part
of the World Health Organization’s medical
compendium— educating health care provid-
ers and patients about alternatives will be an
important way to protect pangolins from extinc-
tion, Given says.
Back in Cameroon, Young said she was plan-
ning to release three pangolins into the wild and
invited Stirton and me to come along. Two of the
pangolins had been found in a garage, and one
surrendered by a woman who received it as a gift.
As we bumped along an unpaved road, I thought
about the pangolins curled in boxes in the back of
the car. They were getting quite a ride. The roads
were too washed out to go to the regular release
site, so we stopped at an open field instead.
As we walked a few yards into the field, Young
warned us to watch out for the biting flies that
transmit a parasite that can grow into a worm
in your eye. While I worried about that, she set
the first pangolin on the ground. It walked into
the tall grass and disappeared. We saw the tops
of the grass blades rustle a bit—and that was
that. Within 15 minutes, the other two pango-
lins also had been set free. It felt anticlimactic
to say the least.
On the return drive, I asked Young about a
bushmeat market we’d passed on the way out.
It had porcupines for sale, and there were a
handful of pangolin scales drying nearby. Wasn’t
it likely that the pangolins she’d just released
would soon be hunted too?
Yes, she said, it’s very possible. “It’s bitter-
sweet, letting them go. There’s no security.”
Nonetheless, she added, it’s a second chance.
Maybe they’ll reproduce before they’re caught
again, contributing a few more pangolin babies
to the ever dwindling population. Every pango-
lin counts, she said. jC
HINA IS THE BIGGEST consumer of
pangolin scales, but it doesn’t have
to be that way, says Steve Given, the
former associate dean of the Amer-
ican College of Traditional Chinese
Medicine, in San Francisco. He hasidentified at least 125 herbal, mineral, and
animal alternatives in the Chinese medicine
pharmacopoeia, depending on what a patient
needs to treat. “There’s virtually no reason that
anyone needs to use chuan shan jia clinically,”
he said, referring to pangolin scales by a tradi-
tional name.
Western medicine so far has found no evidencethat pangolin scales, which consist of keratin, the
same material that makes up fingernails, hair,
Senior Editor Rachael Bale’s story on trafficking of
helmeted hornbills appeared in September 2018.
Brent Stirton was named the 2017 Wildlife Photog-
rapher of the Year for his 2016 rhino coverage.PANGOLINS 101