The Pangolin Universal Notching System: a scale-marking methodology for pangolins
JEANNIE MILLE R MARTIN * 1 ,J AC Q U E L I N E Y. B UCKLEY 2 ,ELL EN CONNEL L Y 3 L IS A HYWOOD 3,
L.MAE L AC E Y 4 ,RAC H E L M. RUDEN5 , 6 DEO RUHAGAZI 7 and ANNA WEARN8
Abstract Despite thousands of individuals entering the illegal wildlife trade each year, assessments of pangolin populations are largely non-existent, even in areas with high exploitation and limited personnel and field equipment. Although pango- lins have unique keratin-based scales, there is no universal scale-markingmethod for individuals despite some pangolin conservation programmes utilizing marking for reference and cataloguing. Each programme currently establishes and manages its own system, resulting in inconsistencies and limiting data sharing. To facilitate pangolin monitoring and research, we developed a standardized method for assigning individual identification numbers, which we call the Pangolin Universal Notching System. This system is neither resource nor training intensive, which could facilitate its adoption and implementation globally. Its application could help to address knowledge gaps in pangolin ageing, reproduction, survivorship, migration and local trafficking patterns, and could be used in combination with other tagging techniques for research on pangolin biology.
Keywords Manis, pangolin, Phataginus, scale marking, Smutsia, threatened species, tracking, wildlife conservation
Introduction C
onventional and accessible marking systems for ani- mals, such as dyeing bird feathers (Bendell & Fowle,
1950; Paullin & Kridler, 1988), painting mammal skin and fur (Pienaar, 1970; Walker et al., 2012), ear notching ungu- lates (Blair, 1941) or removing tissue, scale or scute pieces in amphibians and reptiles (Cagle, 1939; Turner, 1960; Jennings et al., 1991; Ferner, 2007) have been widely used to identify individuals of many species over variable lengths of time. These notching or marking systems date back to the early
*Corresponding author,
mille627@miamioh.edu 1Miami University of Ohio, Oxford, Ohio, USA 2Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, USA 3Tikki Hywood Foundation, Harare, Zimbabwe 4Conservation Science Partners, Truckee, California, USA 5Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Ames, Iowa, USA 6College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA 7Rwandan Wildlife Conservation Association, Kigali, Rwanda 8Center for Large Landscape Conservation, Bozeman, Montana, USA
Received 6 November 2023. Revision requested 24 January 2024. Accepted 2 April 2024. First published online 16 September 2024.
20th century when Cagle (1939) described a simple scute- notching system for hard-shelled turtles whereby scutes were assigned a number and then notched with a file or scis- sors. Permanently identifying individuals in longitudinal studies in a way that does not disrupt their natural beha- viours has proven to be instrumental for the study of growth and ageing, reproduction, survivorship and migration patterns (Cagle, 1939; Plummer & Ferner, 2012). Although these systems have been adapted to a variety of species and projects (Ernst et al., 1974; Holland, 1994; Bury et al., 2012; Plummer & Ferner, 2012; Nagle et al., 2017; Certified Pedigreed Swine, 2023), there is no such system for pangolins, and gaps remain in our knowledge of pan- golin biology and ecology that a universal notching system would help alleviate (Willcox et al., 2019; Heighton & Gaubert, 2021). There are eight extant species of pangolin, four of which
are native to Africa (Temminck’s pangolin Smutsia tem- minckii, giant ground pangolin Smutsia gigantea, black- bellied pangolin Phataginus tetradactyla and white-bellied pangolin Phataginus tricuspis) and four are native to Asia (Chinese pangolin Manis pentadactyla, Indian pangolin Manis crassicaudata, Philippine pangolin Manis culionensis and Sunda pangolin Manis javanica; Challender et al., 2019; Gaubert et al., 2020; IUCN, 2024). All eight species of pangolin have decreasing populations (IUCN, 2024) and are listed on Appendix I of CITES, the highest level of legal protection from the threats of international trade (Challender & O’Criodain, 2020). Pangolins, their name derived from the Malay peng-
goling meaning ‘ones that roll up’ (Kingdon & Largen, 1997), have distinct morphology and behaviour. They have been referred to as walking pinecones, scaly anteaters and even perambulating artichokes because of their long tongues, absence of teeth, unique armour formed by keratin scales and used for protection, and diet consisting mostly of ants and termites (Wang et al., 2016). They live primarily in burrows, are known to dig, climb, walk and swim throughout their native habitats and, when threatened, curl into a defensive ball, allowing their scales to serve as their primary source of protection (Kingdon & Largen, 1997; Vickaryous & Hall, 2006). Pangolins vary widely in size, with the smallest species, the white-bellied pangolin, weighing 1–3 kg and measuring 100 cm long (Jansen et al., 2020), and the largest species, the giant
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. Oryx, 2025, 59(1), 54–60 © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605324000656
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