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Ecology & Environment
Pradeep Kumar

09/05/21 12:20 PM IST

World’s most trafficked mammal

In news

Pangolins, despite being listed in Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 continue to be the world’s most trafficked mammal

Issue
  • The primary demand for its scales in the making of traditional East Asian medicines has led to an estimated illegal trade worth $2.5 billion every year.
  • To enforce the appropriate national and international laws and to track the decline of the species, researchers of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata, have now developed tools to tell apart the scales of Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) and Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla).
  • Studies have shown that between 2000 and 2019, an estimate of about 8,95,000 pangolins was trafficked globally, which mainly involved Asian and African pangolins.
  • This has led to a drastic decline of the species.
Solutions
  • According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Indian pangolins are endangered and the Chinese pangolins are critically endangered.
  • Therefore, it is important to develop protocols that can readily identify species and the number of individuals poached in seizures.
Source: The Hindu

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