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Manis tricuspis
The tree pangolin (Manis tricuspis) is one of eight extant species of pangolin ("scaly anteater") and is native to equatorial Africa. Also known as the white-bellied pangolin or three-cusped pangolin, it is the most common of the African forest pangolins. The tree pangolin ranges from Guinea through Sierra Leone and much of West Africa to Central Africa as far east as extreme southwestern Kenya and north-western Tanzania. To the south it extends to northern Angola and north-western Zambia. It has been found on the Atlantic island of Bioko, but there are no confirmed records of a presence in Senegal, The Gambia or Guinea-Bissau. The tree pangolin is semi-arboreal and generally nocturnal. It is found in lowland tropical moist forests (both primary and secondary), as well as savanna/forest mosaics. It probably adapts to some degree to habitat modification as it favours cultivated and fallow land where it is not aggressively hunted (e.g., abandoned or little-used oil palm trees in secondary growth). The tree pangolin is subject to widespread and often intensive exploitation for bushmeat and traditional medicine, and is by far the most common of the pangolins found in African bushmeat markets. Conservationist believe that this species has undergone a decline of 20-25% over the past 15 years (three pangolin generations) due mainly to the impact of the bushmeat hunting. They assert that it continues to be harvested at unsustainable levels in some of its range and have recently elevated its status from "Least Concern" to "Near Threatened".
This is a rather unfortunate first spotting of such a unique creature. Things would have been different if I was at the scene some minutes earlier. It had strayed into a local civilization before midnight possibly in search of its favourite meal. As harmless as pangolins are, it is alarming how their population remain vulnerable to humans. It can be easily proven that 75% of human-pangolin encounters in the world today end tragically. And coupled with constant degradation of forest habitats, the rate escalates. This one was killed neither for meat nor medicine. It was sport :( Who knows whether it was the last of its kind?
Spotted on Jan 11, 2013
Submitted on Feb 20, 2013
15 Comments
That's really sad :( poor thing
Heartbreaking. Thanks for sharing though. It's important that more people know about pangolins.
Urgh, this spot is so important to highlight the plight of the pangolin, but it is heart breaking non the less. Thank you for sharing.
Thats so sad! :( pangolins are one of my favorite animals
Humans can be so cruel and small minded :[
poor creatures...
Thank you for putting up the information with this spotting. Very educational and very sad..
They are usually knocked out. I wasn't a witness. Read this...
"The Guardian provided a description of the killing and eating of pangolins: "A Guangdong chef interviewed last year in the Beijing Science and Technology Daily described how to prepare a pangolin: 'We keep them alive in cages until the customer makes an order. Then we hammer them unconscious, cut their throats and drain the blood. It is a slow death. We then boil them to remove the scales. We cut the meat into small pieces and use it to make a number of dishes, including braised meat and soup. Usually the customers take the blood home with them afterwards."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin#ci...
i think the animal has been hit on the nose that leads to death?
No wonder Agent Smith compares humans to virus. :( This is sad.
:"-(
How distressing! But you've posted an educational spotting - thank you!
Why??????????? They aren't dangerous, they aren't predators, they don't kill livestock . I agree Fyn... As my former boss often remarked "the more I know about people, the more I love my pigs.".
Sometimes I really don't like humans, what a sick population... :'(
So very sad.