66 M. K. Aziz et al.


member organizations and open-source mining of main- stream and social media to create a georeferenced database (Supplementary Material 1; Supplementary Tables 1 & 2). We also develop a method for converting locality descrip- tions into geographical coordinates using georeferencing best practices (Chapman & Wieczorek, 2020). We demon- strate the use of this database to analyse pangolin rescue and roadkill incidents to aid conservation of this species in Singapore, and describe other potential applications. We georeferenced 482 Sunda pangolin records from September 1996 to June 2021 (Fig. 1). Of these, 220 were res- cues, 96 were roadkill and 166 were sightings. The majority of the records were from 2011 onwards (84%; Supplemen- tary Table 3). Pangolin rescue and roadkill incidents mostly occurred


in central and western Singapore, close to forested areas where the nature reserves and water catchment are located (Fig. 1), but many rescues were also reported away from core forested sites. Regression analyses indicated an increase in all types of Sunda pangolin observations from 2011 to 2020 (Fig. 2), with reports of roadkill showing the strongest increase (R2 = 0.680) compared to sightings (R2 = 0.322) and rescues (R2 = 0.242). We found that male pangolins were twice as likely to be


rescued compared to females (Fig. 3; χ2 = 10.8,P,0.01). Adult males (28%) were most regularly rescued, followed


by subadult males (17%) and subadult females (16%). There were statistically significant differences between the number of male adults rescued compared to subadults of both sexes (χ2 = 5.58 male, χ2 = 19.46 female; P,0.01 for both). However, there was no significant difference be- tween the number of male and female subadults rescued (χ2 = 0.11,P,0.05). This sex bias is mirrored in roadkill records, with 3.6 times more male pangolins being reported as roadkill than females (Supplementary Table 4), although only 23 (24%) of the 96 roadkill records included details of the individual’s sex. This is the first georeferenced database of Sunda pango-


lin records from Singapore. It will be of value for conserva- tion management and for improving our knowledge of pangolin biology. For example, wildlife rescue and rehabili- tation efforts will need to adapt to the increasing number of pangolins requiring rescue. During 2015–2021, 67% of all rescued pangolins in Singapore were successfully treated and returned to the wild (Yeong, 2022). The continued strengthening of this rehabilitation network and the cap- acity to care for increasing numbers of rescued individuals are crucial for the conservation and management of the species in Singapore. The rescue and rehabilitation process also provides a unique opportunity to gain a better under- standing of the health of Sunda pangolins in Singapore and advance veterinary care of the species (Yeong, 2022;


FIG. 1 Generated coordinates of Sunda pangolin records in Singapore from September 1996 to June 2021, showing roadkills, rescues and sightings. (Readers of the printed journal are referred to the online article for a colour version of this figure.)


Oryx, 2025, 59(1), 65–68 © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605324000206


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