Abstract
Globally, pangolins are threatened by poaching and illegal trade. Taiwan presents a contrary situation, where the wild pangolin population has stabilized and even begun to increase in the last two decades. This paper illustrates the factors responsible for causing mortality and morbidity in the wild Taiwanese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla) based on radio-tracking data of wild pangolins and records of sick or injured pangolins admitted to a Taiwanese wildlife rehabilitation center. Despite being proficient burrowers, results from radio-tracking show that Taiwanese pangolins are highly susceptible to getting trapped in tree hollows or ground burrows. Data from Pingtung Rescue Center for Endangered Wild Animals showed that trauma (73.0%) was the major reason for morbidity in the Taiwanese pangolin with trauma from gin traps being the leading cause (77.8%), especially during the dry season, followed by tail injuries caused by dog attacks (20.4%). Despite these threats, Taiwan has had substantial success in rehabilitating and releasing injured pangolins, primarily due to the close collaboration of Taiwanese wildlife rehabilitation centers over the last twenty years.
Highlights
The Taiwanese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla) is a subspecies of Chinese pangolin found only on the sub-tropical island Taiwan [1]
We present two sets of information that illustrate the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in this species in the wild: one data set comes from a long-term radio-tracking project in Taitung, southeastern Taiwan, from 2009 to 2017; the second data set is an analysis of pangolin admission data from the Pingtung Rescue Center for Endangered Wild Animals (PTRC) from 2006 to 2017
From the two data sets presented it is obvious that the continued use of gin traps is the most significant threat to the Taiwanese pangolin
Summary
The Taiwanese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla) is a subspecies of Chinese pangolin found only on the sub-tropical island Taiwan [1]. Taiwanese pangolins live primarily in agricultural fields on mountain slopes below 1,000m a.s.l., with the highest densities of individuals being at about 300m [2,3]. They were commonly distributed throughout lowland Taiwan in the late nineteenth century and mid-twentieth century [4,5,6]. Pangolins were harvested for the local traditional medicine and game meat markets, as well as for the international leather trade from 1950 to 1970. It has been estimated that as many as 60,000 individuals.
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