Pangolins in Malaysia

As far as I can remember, I've only seen 2 wild, live pangolins in Malaysia. I quite often read news reports about van loads of pangolins that have been captured from the wild and are being taken somewhere where they will end up on dining tables, either in local restaurants or overseas. There is a huge demand for pangolin meat. It is not just the meat however, as the scales are also used in Chinese medicine.

The Star on 4 August 2014 had a distressing report, taken from The Guardian, "Pangolins: Eaten to extinction",

Pangolins are only found in Africa and Asia, and Malaysia has just one species, the Sunda pangolin, Manis javanica. Pangolins are the only mammals to have scales. They roll into a ball when threatened to protect the soft underbody. Their diet is mostly ants and termites.

The Malayan pangolin is now on the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered.

The first pangolin I saw was crossing the road at night time. We managed to stop the car in time for me to jump out and take a photo as the pangolin disappeared into the bushes

 

Note the long tail, which is prehensile so the animal can grip trees and branches when climbing. At the other end is a long pointed muzzle.

 

My second sighting of a pangolin was during day time in 2007. The animal was in a small public park. There was a group of us so we probably made quite a noise and the pangolin soon rolled into a protective ball

 

 

 

 

We caught it and after taking photos we took it to a quieter area where we released it

 

 

© Liz Price
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