One of the world ’s most endangered animals is on the verge of extinction in China . Now , smugglers are using one-time bone trade path to move African pangolins out of the continent and into Asia .
line as a “ well-disposed crocodile " , pangolins are the most traffic mammal you ’ve belike never heard of . The creatures are cover inscalesmade of keratin – the same substance asrhino hornsandwhale baleen – that are dried and roasted in traditional Chinese medicine as a way to " cure " certain aliments .
hunt the critter is illegal in China , where species have been hunted to near experimental extinction . African pangolins are still de jure hunted for subsistence kernel , but new research indicates that ’s not what they ’re being used for .
Declines in Asian population means there ’s now a demand for African species .
In the firststudyto investigate how moon-curser move the “ walk artichokes ” out of African forests , researchers say local hunters in Gabon are selling increase numbers of scaly anteater to Asiatic industrial workers throughout the continent .
The team visited communities where pangolins are used for food , as well as markets to see how many are sold and what their prices are . They discover that price for giant pangolins have risen more than 45 times the pace of inflation between 2002 and 2014 . In Libreville , for lesson , giant pangolin prices increased 211 percent , while arborescent pangolins uprise 73 percent . Inflation , on the other mitt , was just 4.6 percentage .
They also incur people with connecter to Asia were more likely to ask for pangolin . Illegally traded scaly anteater were not detect by law enforcement working on meat trade chains , but they were detected with tusk trading across woods borders .
Lead researcher Katharine Abernethy state in astatementthat it ’s believably not local subsistence hunter doing the smuggling . " [ It ’s ] likely to be condemnable hunting organizations , possibly those who are also deal in bone in the realm , as the demand markets are similar . "
But the eminent outside Mary Leontyne Price of scales continues to drive up local costs , and some Hunter direct them to sell them rather than for family wasting disease .
In 2016 , the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ( CITES ) ban all external swap of African species to trammel wildlife losses . However , as is the cause with otherillegal trades , sometimes that ’s not enough .
Across Asia population , anteater numbers have declined byabout 80 percentin the last two decades .
Not a lot is known about the “ world ’s most hunted brute ” , and itselusivenature make conservation strategy difficult . Researchers recommend adjust preservation policies to intercept further illegal trade .
" As in the ivory trade , law enforcement and international drive to save anteater require to target specialized criminal hunters , rather than putting pressure on the subsistence community , ” tell Abernethy .
