Eight species of Pangolins are found in the world, among them, two species are found in Nepal; Chinese pangolin (Mani spentadatyla) and Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) are found in Nepal. In Nepali, Chinese pangolins called Kalo salak and Indian pangolin is called Tame salak. In Terai, Pangolins are locally known as Sal Machhari. Pangolins hold the title of most trafficked animal in the world. Its scale is largely used in China and Vietnam for various purposes from meat, medical to luxury, and many more.
Pangolins are very elusive mammals and like to live inside the burrows and are more active at night. They are solitary animals and hard to see in the wild. They are a very slow breeder and gives birth to a single baby in a year. When we talk about the conservation of wildlife people have more interest and inquiry a lot about its importance in day-to-day life. As we know, Nepal is an agricultural county and the majority of people still depend on farming. Pangolins are a boon for them, Pangolins not only nourished the soil but eat the insects that feed on our crops. One adult Pangolin consumes more than 70 million ants and termites in a year. Which is immensely useful for crops and vegetation.
Data from the paper of Tulshi Laxmi Suwal (2020) describes that among eight districts of Province No:-2, Saptari has been confirmed to have Chinese pangolin and Parsa has confirmed to have Indian pangolin, and reaming all five districts have evidence of the presence of pangolin. Habitat destruction is a major problem in forests of lowlands these days. Lack of awareness about wildlife conservation is another challenging work. Our work should be a focus on documenting the evidence of Pangolin with the motto to think globally and act locally, we celebrate World Pangolin day to create awareness about this elusive creature.
Join us to conserve Pangolin and other wildlife in Province No.-2 of Nepal.