Pangolins

In News

• The 19th Conference of Parties (COP19) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) urged countries to remove references to parts and derivatives of pangolins from the official pharmacopoeia (Drug-making) to help save the species. 

About Pangolins 

• Description:
  • The pangolin is the most trafficked animal in the world.
  • Pangolins are mammals. They are the only mammals wholly-covered in scales and they use those scales to protect themselves from predators in the wild.  
  • Pangolins eat ants, termites and larvae and are often known as the scaly anteater. 
  • Eight species of pangolins are found on two continents namely Asia and Africa. They range from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered.
    • Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) and Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) are found in India.
• Protection: 
  • It is listed under the Schedule I Part I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. 
  • It is listed in Appendix I of CITES in accordance with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List.
  • Indian pangolin – Endangered; Chinese pangolin – Critically Endangered.
• Geographical location: 
  • There are eight species of pangolins in the world of which the Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) and the Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) are found in India.
    • The Indian Pangolin is distributed in other parts of the country as well as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. 
• Threats: 
  • Poaching for its meat and scales, which are used and consumed by local people, but are also increasingly traded internationally.

Source: DTE