A creature so obscure that most people cannot name it, yet so persecuted that it bears the title of the world’s most trafficked animal. With its body covered in overlapping scales, and its shy, nocturnal habits, the pangolin seems like a creature out of a fable—uniquely equipped to protect itself from predators but tragically defenseless against demands of human culture and unfounded medical beliefs.
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There are eight distinct species of pangolins, divided evenly between Asia and Africa. Four species, including the Chinese pangolin and the Sunda pangolin, are native to Asia, while the African continent is home to species such as the giant pangolin and the tree pangolin. Their scales, which are made of keratin—the same material as human fingernails—provide protection from predators. Pangolins feed primarily on ants and termites, using their long, sticky tongues to extract their prey from nests and mounds.

However, the very traits that make pangolins unique have also made them highly sought after. Their scales are in high demand in traditional medicine, particularly in parts of Asia, where they are wrongly believed to cure conditions ranging from infection to cancer. Their meat is regarded as a delicacy and status symbol, often served in exclusive settings to show wealth and privilege. This dual demand has created a highly organized black market, driving pangolins closer to extinction with every passing day.

According to the World Wildlife Crime Report 2024, pangolins accounted for 28% of global wildlife trade seizures between 2015 and 2021, making them the single most trafficked animal on the planet. This figure represents countless individuals killed, smuggled, and sold, often in brutal conditions.

‍The Trafficking Supply Chain

The illegal trade in pangolins follows a complex supply chain that spans continents, connecting poaching hotspots to lucrative markets.

Trafficking begins in Africa and Southeast Asia, where pangolins are poached at alarming rates. In Africa, nations such as Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have become poaching hotspots, while in Southeast Asia, countries like Indonesia and Myanmar are major contributors to the trade. Over the years, as relentless hunting has severely depleted pangolin populations in Asia, traffickers have increasingly shifted their sourcing to Africa, exploiting the continent’s wildlife and weaker enforcement mechanisms.

Poachers hunt pangolins using guns, traps, and even by digging into their burrows. Tragically, their natural defense mechanism—curling into a ball when threatened—makes them easy for hunters to pick up and capture without resistance. While those hunted with guns are killed instantly, pangolins captured using traps or dug out alive are packed into crates or bags and most likely endure prolonged suffering from injuries, starvation, overcrowding, or dehydration during transport.

While many pangolins are killed by being boiled alive, a method used to ease the removal of their scales, others are slaughtered with little regard for their suffering, highlighting the cruel practices behind illegal trade.

Smugglers rely on sophisticated networks to move pangolins and their scales across borders, exploiting corruption, fake permits, and hidden compartments in vehicles or cargo containers. Live pangolins are frequently concealed in crates labeled as fish or other innocuous goods, while their scales are hidden within shipments of timber or other bulk commodities to evade detection. To further complicate enforcement efforts, traffickers increasingly use encrypted communication apps to coordinate logistics and payments, ensuring smoother operations and making their activities harder to intercept. This combination of deceptive methods and technological tools enables traffickers to navigate international borders with efficiency, feeding the demand in high-value markets.

The final destination for most trafficked pangolins is East Asia, where the interest in their scales and meat, especially in China and Vietnam, sustains the black market. Despite protections under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), inconsistent enforcement and high demand allow this illegal trade to further persist.

Uncovering the Scale of the Crisis

Between 2015 and 2021, pangolins accounted for 28% of all wildlife trade seizures. Over this seven-year period, authorities intercepted more than 16,000 tons of illegal wildlife goods, involving millions of items across 4,000 affected species. Pangolin scales alone showed a dramatic increase in seizures by weight, rising by 191% during this time.

In 2019, the three largest seizures of scales on record, made within a four-month time span, highlighted the extent of the crisis. Authorities intercepted shipments in Singapore, each containing around 12 tons of pangolin scales, with thousands of pangolins killed to supply each single shipment. The scales, hidden in cargo containers and misdeclared as legitimate goods, were bound for East Asia.

While enforcement agencies report seizures of this magnitude, these figures only scratch the surface, as a substantial volume of trafficking goes undetected, leaving the true extent of the trade largely unknown.

And all that, while pangolins play a vital role in maintaining the health of ecosystems.

What Is Lost When Pangolins Vanish

By consuming ants and termites—sometimes up to thousands in a single day—they act as natural pest controllers, helping to regulate populations of these insects that might otherwise damage crops, trees, and natural habitats. Their habit of digging, when searching for food, helps to loosen and mix the soil, improving nutrient cycling and plant growth. As pangolin populations decline, these ecological services are disrupted, leading to potential imbalances in pest populations and long-term degradation of soil quality. Such changes may contribute to chain reactions in ecosystems, affecting water retention, and the overall biodiversity of the areas they inhabit.

The Challenge of Demand and Desperation

The battle to save pangolins represents a challenge, rooted in governance, enforcement, and the socio-economic realities of the regions most affected by wildlife trafficking. While progress has been made through multinational operations, and increased awareness campaigns to reduce demand, these efforts alone have not stemmed the tide. At the heart of the crisis lies a systemic failure, where corruption, weak governance, and economic instability preserve the conditions that make trafficking not only possible but profitable.

In many of the regions where pangolins are hunted, poverty and limited economic opportunities drive individuals to turn to poaching as a means of survival. This is not to excuse the cruelty inflicted on these animals but to acknowledge the structural inequalities that make such actions a desperate form of income to sustain their families. At the same time, traffickers, highly organized and adaptable, exploit these conditions to operate with impunity, navigating weak enforcement systems, shifting routes, and exploiting corruption to escape justice. It all reinforces a cycle that threatens not only pangolins but entire ecosystems and communities that depend on them.

To break this cycle, a large-scope approach is needed—one that addresses not only the supply side of the trade but also the deeply flawed demand that drives it. The primary markets for pangolins, concentrated in parts of Asia, are fueled by myths and misconceptions that have no basis in science or necessity. Pangolin scales, made of keratin—the same material as human nails—are wrongly believed to hold healing properties capable of curing conditions like infection or even cancer. Despite clear evidence against these claims, the demand persists, rooted in cultural traditions and a black-market industry that aggressively promotes these beliefs to sustain profits.

With their scaly, armored bodies and nocturnal, solitary behavior, pangolins lack the traits that often make an animal a media darling or a symbol of conservation efforts. To most people, they may not possess the iconic charm of a panda or the presence of a tiger, which is why they remain largely overlooked in the public eye. This perception does them a serious injustice.

Pangolins are extraordinary animals—essential to ecosystems, silently sustaining the balance of their habitats. And yet, despite their crucial role in the environment, they hold the title of being the world’s most trafficked animal. Little known but entirely irreplaceable—this is the paradox of the pangolin.

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Links:

World Wildlife Crime Report 2024