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Pangolins face a myriad of challenges in Africa stemming from poaching, loss of habitat, and general human ignorance. Hunting them for exports to Asian countries like China is a major issue. Every part of the giant lizard with a unique type of scales made of keratin and the ability to curl itself as a protective shield from enemies is used.
Pangolins face a myriad of challenges in Africa stemming from poaching, loss of habitat, and general human ignorance. Hunting them for exports to Asian countries like China is a major issue. Every part of the giant lizard with a unique type of scales made of keratin and the ability to curl itself as a protective shield from enemies is used. Its meat is exotic and many feel that it has aphrodisiac attributes and the scales have various medicinal values.
At the National Museums of Kenya, officials say 120,000 kilograms of pangolins were exported from Africa between 2010-2014. Kenya is a hub for trafficking pangolins from Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central West African Republic, and Senegal. Between 2014 and 2015, Kenya had one case of illegal pangolins seized at the airport. However, from 2021 to date, there have been 20 cases of illegal pangolins seized at the airport, suggesting that cases of poaching have increased. It may be recalled that there was a baseless allegation that pangolins were the carriers of the Covid-19 virus, which is now scorched by scientists. But the debate still continues on the causes of the pandemic which originated in China and later spread across the world taking the lives of millions of people.
Pangolins are threatened by extinction as poaching and illegal exports continue. According to biologists, there are eight different species of pangolins. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has considered them as endangered. There are mainly two categories of pangolin- Sunda and Philippine. There are a number of misconceptions about the creature. For instance, older people in Kenya believe the sighting of pangolins brings good luck. However, the new generation thinks otherwise. There are people who think pangolins are harmful and poisonous and kill them upon sight.
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Scientific research into the lives of nocturnal and secretive creatures has not yielded many results so far. Unfortunately, the weird-looking creatures with thick scales and the ability to change their shape into a ball-like substance presumably to escape from enemy attacks are losing their natural habitats. The introduction of electric fences around tracts of land to protect agricultural produce from humans or dangerous wildlife like elephants or lions is affecting pangolins, who are often caught in the fence and perish due to electrocution.
