58 J. M. Martin et al.
used in other species have been associated with short- term rubbing and discomfort and are known to rip or fall out (Johnston & Edwards, 1996; Griesser et al., 2012). Although the impact of adorning a notched scale should be limited in pangolins because soft tissue is not involved, there could still be unanticipated negative effects. Therefore, given that pangolins are most often found in dense foliage and burrows, any adornment techniques should be evaluated by each programme to ensure animal safety is not compromised through increased predation, poaching or entanglement risks. The Pangolin Universal Notching System is not intended
to be a panacea that is appropriate for every circumstance, and there are limitations to its execution. Firstly, the animal must be sufficiently healthy to be handled for long enough to be marked, either in the wild or in a post-rehabilitation setting. Although the time needed to drill the holes is less than that needed to attach a telemetry tag or tracking device, animal health and potential stress still need to be taken into consideration. Secondly, if an animal were to lose or damage amarked scale over the course of its lifetime, only a partial code would be identified when recaptured. Therefore, unlike with the code used for hard-shelled turtles (Nagle et al., 2017) or with tattooing of certain mammals, notching in pangolins could be subject to some uncertainty because of scale wear. Thirdly, if an individual marked with a customized code is discovered by another programme or intercepted during trafficking, programme-specific adapta- tions of the code (such as using region- or project-specific codes) may not be immediately interpretable or obvious. However, in such circumstances, the pangolin could still be identified and traced if those who have recovered it are trained in interpreting the code. Fourthly, the Pangolin Universal Notching System is most effective when the pan- golin is in hand whilst reading the code. Although the marked code could be read from a short distance or possibly from a camera-trap image, this notching system does not fa- cilitate visibility across long distances. It could also be chal- lenging to read if the pangolin is viewed unilaterally, if a pup is attached, or if mud or debris has filled the holes. Notwithstanding these limitations, the Pangolin Universal Notching System is a notable advancement for marking pangolins for conservation and research and has the poten- tial to improve our understanding and protection of these threatened species. Its inherent simplicity and adaptability provide a non-intrusive method for the identification and tracking of pangolin individuals. Code management and organization could be completed
at the project, regional, national or international level. We recommend that pangolin practitioners work with the IUCN Species Survival Commission Pangolin Specialist Group to identify an organization or organizations to de- velop, house and manage a centralized database system to facilitate data-sharing for the proposed system. Given the
distribution of pangolins across multiple countries, their status as the most trafficked mammal (Aisher, 2016) and the fact that a live trafficked animal could be intercepted and rehabilitated far from where it was originally marked (Wright & Jimerson, 2020), the ability to share data in this way will be instrumental for conservation. The centra- lized database could be modelled on existing species tag data-sharing systems such as the Sea Turtle Tag Inventory (ACCSTR, 2023) and the TagFinder programme (
Seaturtle.org, 2023), the thoroughbred horse Interactive Registration Tattoo Lookup and Tattoo Research pro- grammes (The Jockey Club, 2023), the Monarch Tagging programme (Monarch Watch, 2023) and the Bird Banding Laboratory (USGS, 2023). The Pangolin Universal Notching System is a standar-
dized, accessible and customizable system for marking pan- golin species. It is neither resource nor training intensive, which will facilitate its accessibility and implementation globally. Implementation could aid in addressing know- ledge gaps in pangolin ageing, reproduction, survivorship, migration and local trafficking patterns through longi- tudinal study data, especially when paired with other track- ing methods and technologies.
Author contributions Preliminary literature review: JMM, JYB, LML, RMR, DR, AW; survey design and completion: JMM, JYB, LML, RMR, DR, AW; code design: JMM, JYB, RMR; technical expertise: JMM, JYB, EC, LH, RMR; writing: JMM, JYB, LML, RMR; editing: all authors.
Acknowledgements We thank the Tikki Hywood Foundation, The Rufford Foundation, White Oak Conservation, Laura Gruber and the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders programme, National Geographic, Paul Thompson and Save Pangolins, Matthew Shirley and the IUCN Species Survival Commission Pangolin Specialist Group, Renee Bumpus, Colby Bishop, Sarah Crumb, Roy Nagle, Lauren McLane Gross, Kelly Ely Kolak and Annelise Mihopulos. This research project would not have been possible without their support, time and expertise. Funding for this work was provided by The Rufford Foundation.
Conflicts of interest None.
Ethical standards This research needed no special permissions and abided by the Oryx guidelines on ethical standards.
Data availability Data that support this study are available from the corresponding author, JMM, upon reasonable request.
References
ACCSTR (2023) Sea Turtle Tag Inventory. Archie Carr Sea Turtle Research Center, Gainesville, USA.
accstr.ufl.edu/resources/tag- inventory [accessed 2 November 2023].
AISHER,A. (2016) Scarcity, alterity and value: decline of the pangolin, the world’s most trafficked mammal. Conservation and Society, 14, 317.
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
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140
