poachersswitchingopportunisticallyasotherspeciesgrew
moredifficulttotrade.
“Thenumberofanimalsbeingstrippedfromthewild
iscompletelyoutofcontrol,”saysJohnScanlon,a former
secretary-generalofCites,themaininternationalorganiza-
tionforregulatingtradeinendangeredspecies.“Ifearthey’ll
bewipedoutbeforewe’veadequatelyresponded.”Pangolinsarea low-keymarvelofthenaturalworld.There
areeightknownspecies,witha geographicrangethatcov-
ersIndia,SoutheastAsia,southernChina,andmuchofsub-
SaharanAfrica.Mostare nocturnal; all aretoothless,relying
insteadonsticky,muscular tongues that canextendaslong
astheirbody.Mostofthe time, the appendageliesdormant
inaninternalsheath.When required, it canshootdeepinto
antandtermitenestswith lethal speed andforce,conjur-
ingscenesofLovecraftian horror. Pangolinsalsohaveclaws
thatarewell-adaptedto digging for prey aswellasspecial-
izedmusclesthatsealtheir ears and nos-
trilsagainstincursionby insects. They’re
myrmecophagousTerminators, each capa-
bleofkilling,byoneestimate, as many as
70 millionbugsa year.
Shyandtypicallysolitary, pangolins
canbefoundina variety of habitats, with
somespeciespreferring to burrow and oth-
ersfondofclimbingtrees, sometimes using
theirmusculartailsfor balance. Females
typically give birth to a single offspring,
after a gestation of several months or more,andeachinfant
requires significant maternal investment. Until a juvenile pan-
golin is mature enough to fend for itself, it rides atop its moth-
er’s tail as she forages for food.
Evolution’s other great gift to the pangolin is, tragically, its
main attraction for poachers: its scales, a robust armor of ker-
atin, the same material responsible for human fingernails and
rhino horns. When a pangolin is threatened or startled, its
main defense is to curl into a ball, hiding its soft underbelly
(and, if necessary, an accompanying infant) inside this jagged
thicket. YouTube clips show lions reduced to helpless incom-
prehension when an appealing-looking snack suddenly turns
rock hard, impervious to tooth or claw. Unfortunately for the
pangolin, though, it reacts the same way to humans, who can
simply deposit a frightened victim into a sack like a beach ball.
Pangolins have proved difficult to track and count, making
it hard to gauge how steeply their populations have declined.
Their preference for trees and burrows makes them easily
missed by camera traps, and unlike with other mammals,
their eyes don’t readily shine in the glow of a flashlight. One of
the more comprehensive efforts to quantify pangolin poach-
ing, a 2017 study by researchers from the University of Sussex
and other institutions, produced only a very broad estimate
that 400,000 to 2.7 million of the animals are hunted annu-
ally in Central Africa. Scientists don’t need a precise count,
though, to conclude that the pangolin is in serious trouble.TheInternationalUnionforConservationofNatureclassifies
theChinesepangolinandtheSundapangolinofSoutheast
Asiaascriticallyendangered;oftheothersixspecies,two
arelistedasendangeredandtheremainderasvulnerable.
Poacherssucceedwhereresearchersstrugglebecausethey
cansprinklehundredsoreventhousandsofsnaresarounda
knownhabitat.Anotherreliabletacticis snifferdogs,which
canbeadeptatfindingpangolinsevenintheirburrows.
Huntersgototheselengthsbecausepangolinfarmingis uni-
versallyregardedasnonviable.Theanimalsreproduceslowly
andunmanageably,andthey’retooeasilystressedandsus-
ceptibletoillness.
The major source countriesare thought to include
Cameroon,theCentralAfricanRepublic,andCongo.Asbest
asinvestigatorscantell,muchofthepoachingtakesplaceat
relativelysmallscale,withloadsconsolidatedintogargan-
tuancargoesbymiddlemenenroutetoportcitiessuchas
Lagos.Oneindicatorofthesmugglers’power:Citesconsid-
ersshipmentsofelephantivorylargerthan
500 kilogramstoindicatetheinvolvement
oforganizedcrime,a smallfractionofthe
sizeofsomepangolin-scaleseizures.The
bestguess,accordingtoRichardThomas
ofTraffic,a U.K.-basedorganizationthat
monitorsthewildlifetrade,is thatthecul-
pritsare“organizedAsiancriminalsyndi-
cateswhomusthavea prettyextraordinary
sourcingnetwork.”
For the mostpart, it’sjust a guess.
Prosecutionsofsmugglersaremuchrarerthanseizuresoftheir
wares, and no law enforcement agency has come close to iden-
tifying the Cali cartel of pangolin trafficking. And just as with
drugs, there’s every reason to believe that as long as demand
for scales and meat persists, so too will illicit efforts to meetit.LanOngStreet,inHanoi’sOldQuarter,isthetraditional-
medicine capital of Vietnam, a stretch of dark, narrow shops
packed into the ground floors of crowded tenements. The
vendors sell a panoply of natural remedies: cordyceps mush-
room for impotence, ginseng for stress, morinda root for
joint pain. Not long ago, they would have displayed pango-
lin scales, which were sold more or less openly for arthri-
tis and asthma and as an aid to lactation. Now the scales are
gone, or at least hidden; on a recent visit, five Lan Ong shop-
keepers said they no longer sold pangolin products for fear of
punishment.Since 2017 Vietnamhasimposedstiffpenalties
forsellingtheanimal,inkeepingwitha tradebanaccepted
bythe 182 nations that are party to Cites.
The moratorium on international trade doesn’t extendto
saleswithincountries.ScalesremainlegalinChina,though
officiallyatleasttheymustbedrawnfromanexistingstate-
administered stockpile—a sort of Strategic Pangolin Reserve.
Activists have doubts about how thoroughly this requirement
is enforced and worry that smuggled scales are being used to
replenish the stockpile.44
Bloomberg Businessweek August 5, 2019Pangolin scalesATHIT PERAWONGMETHA/REUTERS