Pangolins Rise Symposium

Do you know what a pangolin is? Are you aware that Singapore still has pangolins?

In order to answer those two questions, and just to introduce this adorable mammal ( yes, they are mammals! ) to the people at NTU, Earthlink NTU s Nature Guiding committee held the Pangolins Rise Symposium on the 9th of March. The symposium featured 5 speakers from various organisations, with each of them talking about a different aspect of pangolins.

The first speaker- Ms. Natalia from The Pangolin Story, gave an introduction on what is a pangolin. Pangolins are insectivorous mammals, and usually prefers to dine on ants and termites with their long tongues. The most notable things about them are the scales covering most of their body- much like a suit of armour- and their tendency to curl up into a ball when threatened. Those two defensive adaptations combine to make pangolins nearly impervious to most predators; with the exception of one predator, of course. The strategy adopted by the pangolins obviously backfire when faced with poachers, who could just pick the pangolins up and go on their merry way. Pangolins are indeed found in Singapore; however, they are threatened by extinction. Pangolins have been sighted in several places such as Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin, and the Western Water Catchment Area. Pangolins would often wander into urban areas from the Western Water Catchment, which explains the numerous pangolin sightings at NTU, and the need to raise awareness among NTU students.

Next to speak was Mr. Ade from Wildlife Reserves Singapore, who works as a pangolin handler at the Singapore Zoo and is familiar with the captive management of pangolins. Pangolins are rarely found in zoos as they do not handle captivity well, and also because we lack information about them. Mr. Ade showed the audience various aspects of managing captive pangolins, like enclosure conditions, food, and enrichment activities. The Pangolins at Singapore Zoo are fed a mixture of raw beef, chicken eggs, mealworms, ant eggs, and various supplement powders (Do you feel hungry yet?). They are also brought for walks, and are allowed to forage in the forested areas nearby. Mr. Ade also talked briefly about their pangolin breeding program, which was a small success. However, they only managed 3 pangolin births over several years due to the difficulty in breeding pangolins.

The third speaker was Ms. Anbu from ACRES, which rescue wildlife trapped in urban settings. Ms. Anbu shared several cases of pangolin rescue with the audience. Pangolins have a tendency to get trapped in weird places when stressed by people, as evidenced by the time where they rescued a pangolin from a boat in Lim Chu Kang. Ms. Anbu also encouraged the audience to report to ACRES when they spot trapped wildlife.

The fourth speaker was Professor Stephan from NTU s very own SCELSE. Professor Stephan talked about the links between mitochondrial diversity and the risk of extinction faced by animals, and why it is important to sequence the mitochondrial genome. Basically, the less diverse the mitochondrial genome of a species, the more likely it is for that particular species to get wiped out by disease and changes in the environment. Therefore, it is very important to genomic sequencing on pangolins to find out the risk of them being extinct. This highlights the need for more research work on pangolins.

Last but not least, Dr. Chris from TRAFFIC talked about pangolins in wildlife trade. Due to the demand for pangolin scales as an ingredient in traditional medicine, and pangolin meat as a sort of luxury meat, pangolins have become the most poached wild animal in South East Asia. The low risks and high profits involved, as well as rampant corruption in the countries involved, caused a steep increase in wildlife poaching in the South East Asian region. As mentioned earlier, pangolins breed very slowly and is nearly impossible to farm, hence all of the pangolins being traded illegally are almost certainly poached from the wild. Dr. Chris also stresses the importance of research, as they need more facts to convince governments to implement measures against wildlife poaching.