National Geographic USA – June 2019

Surabaya

Shenzhen

Hong Kong

CHINA

INDONESIA

MALAYSIA

VIETNAM

THAILAND

LAOS

MYANMAR

INDIA

PHILIPPINES

NEPAL

PAKISTAN

TAIWAN

ARCTIC

OCEAN

PACIFIC

OCEAN

ASI A

Indian

pangolin

Chinese

pangolin

Sunda

pangolin

Philippine

pangolin

CLARE TRAINOR, TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO,

AND KAYA BERNE, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: DAN

CHALLENDER, IUCN SSC PANGOLIN SPECIALIST

GROUP; ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATION

AGENCY; IUCN RED LIST; SARAH HEINRICH,

UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE; SCOTT TRAGESER,

CREATIVE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE; KATIE

SCHULER, CORAL & OAK STUDIOS

Major trade flow

China’s questionable sources

Pharmaceutical companies in China

have been allowed to obtain some 29 tons

of pangolin scales each year. Companies

reportedly use scales from the same

decades-old stockpiles, but the origins

of the scales aren’t carefully tracked.

Philippine pangolin

Manis culionensis

This arboreal pangolin is

endemic to Palawan and nearby

Philippine islands. Hunters

sometimes use dogs to track

these and other pangolins.

Sunda pangolin

Manis javanica

This ground and tree species

is believed to be the most traf-

ficked pangolin today. Scales

help protect pangolins from

bites when they feed on ants.

Chinese pangolin

Manis pentadactyla

The only pangolin that

hibernates in winter has been

poached so heavily that by

the mid-1990s it had come

close to extinction in China.

Indian pangolin

Manis crassicaudata

The largest Asian species

ranges as far west as Pakistan.

As with other pangolins,

babies less than six months old

ride on their mothers’ backs.

Trying to stop a deadly market

Law enforcement agencies made 1,500

seizures representing an estimated

700,000 pangolins between 2000

and 2018. Most of the trade,

however, goes undetected

and unreported.

ASIAN SPECIES

Pangolin seizures Conservation status Pangolin traffickers

Vulnerable

Critically

endangered

Estimated number of

confiscated pangolins

based on reported seiz-

ures of bodies, parts,

and scales, 2000-2018

Endangered

Main countries

involved in trafficking

Record breakers: In 2019

Singapore seized a shipment

of 14.2 tons of scales—repre-

senting an estimated 36,000

pangolins—from Nigeria

bound for Vietnam. In 2017

China intercepted a shipment

from Africa of 13 tons of scales

(about 30,000 pangolins).

More than 20,000

500–1,499

Fewer than 500

1,500–4,999

5,000–20,000

Illegal pangolin products

are shipped from Asia to

the United States.