IC Broadcasting’s Island Symbiosis – Listening to Taiwan talks about Taiwan’s record-setting efforts in the difficult artificial nurturing of pangolins.

February 20, 2021, is World Pangolin Day. Today’s episode will talk about our scaly and shy friends!

There are eight types of pangolin in the world, four of which are found in Asia and the other four are found in Africa. Taiwan is one of the few regions in the world with a native pangolin population. These nocturnal mammals feed on ants and termites. They live in caves during the day and hunt at night using their long, sticky tongues to capture their prey. Because of their tame nature, pangolins will curl up to protect themselves in the face of danger. However, some Asian countries believe that pangolins provide medicinal properties, resulting in pangolins becoming one of the most poached mammals in the world with rampant international smuggling.

According to the data released by TRAFFIC, over one million pangolins have been poached in the past ten years. Back in 2014, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed Chinese pangolins as critically endangered and stated that if the situation continued pangolins will become extinct in the wild.

Difficulties related to the artificial nurturing and nursing of pangolins have become the biggest challenges for global pangolin conservation. Apart from having the most extensive experience in the artificial nurturing of pangolins in the world, a pangolin named Xiongwu artificially nurtured by Taipei Zoo successfully reproduced offspring in 2017 becoming the first artificially nurtured pangolin to give birth in the world. Teams from Hong Kong, Japan, and Germany visited Taipei Zoo to learn from their experiences.

This episode invited the first surrogate mother for the pangolins in Taipei Zoo, District Executive Luo Xuan-Yi of the Animals of Taiwan district, to talk about the difficulties and stories behind the artificial nurturing of pangolins.