Pangolin Universal Notching System 57


FIG. 1 The Pangolin Universal Notching System applied to a Temminck’s pangolin Smutsia temminckii. (a) Dorsal view, with the anterior (head) at the top of the image with the pangolin facing away from the observer. The first scale immediately left of the midline scale row at the pectoral girdle (shoulder) and the first scale immediately right of the midline scale row at the pectoral girdle are always 1 and 100, respectively. Marking the first midline row scale between the 1 and 100 scales indicates a male and marking the fifth midline row scale indicates a female. (b) Male individual number 7,238: the 7,000, 200, 20, 10, 7 and 1 scales and the first scale in the midline, indicating male, are marked.


Given that notching is already successfully used by prac-


titioners on several pangolin species, including the smallest, the Pangolin Universal Notching System is adaptable to all eight pangolin species regardless of total scale number or scale morphology. The system is intended for use on individuals in good health and body condition that are not obviously pregnant, lactating or young enough to be nursing. This ensures that individuals are large enough for notching, scales are of adequate thickness and any stress would not lead to interference in the mother–pup relationship. The numerical coding system allows up to 15,554 individuals to be notched and for these data to be available for longi- tudinal studies, an important feature given the potentially high volume of pangolins that could be encountered in the long term through wildlife trade recovery, rehabilitation and in situ research. Because of high scale count variability between pangolin


species (Cota-Larson, 2017;Ullmann et al., 2019), it is import- ant to indicate a specific anatomical landmark for the starting point to ensure uniformity in notching execution. All species have at least eight scales in the first lateral row, and by using the first eight scales on each side, researchers can easily


remember a simple rule that all numbers ,100 are on the left and all numbers.100 are on the right.The area posterior to the pelvic girdle (hips)was avoided, to eliminate confusion with drill holes made during traditional transmitter placement (Pagès, 1975; Lim T-Lon, 2008; Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program, 2014; Pietersen et al., 2014; Schoppe, 2015; Sun et al., 2019). In addition to being highly accessible to practitioners


with limited resources or with training constraints, a signifi- cant advantage of the Pangolin Universal Notching System is the simplicity of the code, making it easy to adapt to in- dividual programme needs and goals. Programmes could assign subsets of their codes to different geographical re- gions or specific projects, to provide additional detail about where the individual was originally encountered. Notch adornments could also be used to increase visibility to researchers in the field or in camera-trap images. These adornments could include beaded wires or reflective paints (similar to those used in iguanids; Rodda et al., 1988), cattle ear tags, coloured bird leg bands (Silvy et al., 2012) or any other materials that could be used as visual cues. It is important to note, however, that ear tags and bands


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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