Genomic analyzes reveal poaching hotspots and trade routes for the most trafficked endangered mammals

UCLA scientists and colleagues created a source-to-destination genetic map of the world’s most trafficked mammal, the pangolin, using samples of live white-bellied pangolins and animal scales confiscated from markets illicit.

Disrupting the illegal trade in pangolins has proven a challenge: the eight different species, found in 23 countries, have a collective range of 2.3 million square kilometers, and their scales are transported around the world for sale as traditional medicine. The African white-bellied species is usually shipped to China and other Asian countries.

Now, researchers have developed a powerful new approach that uses genomics to identify poaching and trafficking hotspots. Using these research findings and methods described in a study published today in the journal Sciencelaw enforcement can now trace white-bellied pangolin products from the international supply chain to locations in Africa where the animals were poached.

“Genetic screening takes a few days and can pinpoint the origin of an animal within approximately 125 miles,” said the study’s lead author, Thomas Smith, an evolutionary biologist and founding director of the UCLA Tropical Research Center. “Someone could unload a bag of scales from a ship in Hong Kong, and you could take a single scale and determine, for example, that it came from an animal near the town of Bata in Equatorial Guinea. “

To track the pangolin trade from market to habitat, the study authors mapped the genome of the white-bellied pangolin and collected 111 samples of this species from known localities in central Africa to genetically map distinct geographic populations . The researchers then took “slices” of genetic material from pangolin scales – taken from around a million animals – seized in transit to Hong Kong markets. By matching the two sources, they were able to determine where the most intense poaching was occurring and create a map that tracks trade routes.

Most scales, they discovered, are first shipped to Nigeria, the main regional distribution center. From there, they are transported to markets in countries such as China, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Singapore. These findings create “new opportunities to disrupt international wildlife trade and guide anti-trafficking measures,” the authors write.

While Nigeria has long been known as a hub for exports to Asia, the study shows that only 4% of animals originate there, Smith noted.

Poaching in Africa shifted east between 2012 and 2018, the period covered by the research data. The scales collected in 2012 most often correspond to West African countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana. In 2018, most came from Cameroon, particularly from the southern border, neighboring Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Secondary hotspots were identified in northwest Cameroon, near the border with Nigeria, and in eastern Cameroon, along the border with the Central African Republic.

The global trade in illegal wildlife is a $20 billion business driven by sophisticated international cartels. In Africa, pangolin poachers can sell a single animal for $250, nearly a year’s salary in many poaching regions, but the majority of profits go to trafficking organizations, where researchers and law enforcement agencies The order believes that the money is used to finance activities such as the sale of illegal weapons. commerce, Smith said.

A single recent seizure in Singapore recovered 18 tons of pangolin scales, which represents “a truly inconceivable number of animals killed,” said UCLA’s Jen Tinsman, lead author of the paper and a researcher at the Center for tropical research.

“We don’t know how many white-bellied pangolins are left because they’re really difficult to study in the wild,” Tinsman said. “But we know that this level of harvest is unsustainable, regardless of the actual size of the population.”

Pangolins are distinctive scaly mammals that have their own branch of the evolutionary tree. Their closest relatives include cats and polar bears. The arboreal white-bellied pangolin species is relatively small, weighing between 3 and 4 pounds and less than a foot long, while some ground pangolins can reach 80 or 90 pounds, about the size of a large dog .

All eight species of pangolins, four in Africa and four in Asia, are endangered, and demand for their scales, meat and other parts has driven three Asian species – the Sunda, Philippine and China – on the verge of extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies them as critically endangered. Once these Asian species became rare, traffickers turned to Africa and the white-bellied pangolin.

Pangolins are mainly used in traditional medicine and their effectiveness has not been proven, with a smaller portion being sold for use in exotic dishes, the researchers said.

For the current study, UCLA scientists partnered with government agencies and research organizations around the world, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and universities in countries like China, Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Czech Republic. .

The study supports efforts to track and map pangolin poaching by the Congo Basin Institute, a joint initiative of UCLA and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. The Congo Basin Institute, of which Smith is co-director, is based in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and includes two field stations in the rainforest.

This new research gives hope to international efforts to end the killing and trade of the white-bellied pangolin, Tinsman said.

“Developments over the past two years have been encouraging,” she said. “If we can put our tracking methods in the hands of law enforcement officers in countries where pangolins are most endangered, it would allow illegal trade to be monitored in near real time and help stop it.”