Pangolin Conservation Technology: How IoT Trackers, Camera Traps, and Satellite Imagery Are Changing the Game

Pangolins are among the hardest mammals on Earth to study. They are nocturnal, solitary, silent, and spend most of their time underground or hidden in dense vegetation. Traditional wildlife survey methods, designed for animals that move in herds, vocalise, or leave conspicuous signs, consistently fail to detect pangolins at rates that enable reliable population estimates. A global analysis of camera trap data encompassing more than 500,000 trap nights recorded only 888 pangolin encounters across three species, with detection probabilities below 0.05 for all of them.

This detection deficit is not merely an academic problem. Without reliable data on where pangolins live, how they move, and how many remain, conservation programmes operate partially blind. The technologies now being deployed to close this gap span GPS tracking with IoT connectivity, strategically positioned camera traps, standardised identification systems, satellite remote sensing, patrol management platforms, and the emerging science of environmental DNA. Each addresses a different piece of the puzzle.

GPS Tracking and the OpenCollar Pangolin Tracker

Attaching a tracking device to a pangolin presents unique engineering challenges. Pangolins curl into tight balls when threatened, dig into hard substrates, and have a body covered in overlapping keratin scales that offer few attachment points. The established protocol, validated through extensive field testing on Chinese pangolins and now used across multiple species, involves drilling two small holes in a large scale near the base of the tail. The non-vascularised portion of scales thicker than 2 mm and wider than 25 mm can be safely drilled without causing pain or injury. Earlier attempts to attach devices to dorsal scales were abandoned after burrow-digging caused detachment and tissue damage.

A June 2025 study published in Animals tracked five rescued Chinese pangolins in Zhejiang province using GPS combined with accelerometer technology over 21 to 72 days. The data confirmed strongly nocturnal activity patterns between 22:00 and 04:00, with home ranges averaging 777 hectares when calculated using the minimum convex polygon method. The GPS devices maintained battery life exceeding six months of continuous operation, a critical threshold for longitudinal behavioural studies.

Smart Parks has deployed over 55 LoRaWAN gateways across conservation sites in India, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tanzania. These networks relay GPS positions, vehicle movements, and fence voltages in real time to ranger smartphones, creating a surveillance layer that extends the reach of limited patrol teams. Recent deployments at Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe and Luwire Wildlife Conservancy in Mozambique are expanding this coverage into new pangolin range areas.

Camera Traps: From Random Placement to Targeted Detection

The failure of conventional camera trap surveys to detect pangolins reliably has driven researchers to develop targeted deployment strategies that exploit knowledge of pangolin behaviour. The results are striking.

A 2023 study published in Oryx demonstrated that positioning camera traps at burrow entrances significantly increases giant pangolin detection probability, even when targeting randomly encountered burrows without prior confirmation of pangolin use. The researchers recommend deploying at least 20 cameras for 30 to 35 days at burrow sites for meaningful survey results.

In Cameroon’s Campo Ma’an National Park, researchers found that positioning camera traps to view fallen logs achieved 100 detections of white-bellied pangolins in fewer than 1,200 camera-trap days using just 20 cameras deployed for 60 days. This log-viewing approach outperformed both ground-level and arboreal camera placements, exploiting the fact that pangolins investigate fallen logs for the ant and termite colonies that colonise decaying wood.

In India’s Siang River basin, researchers used ecological knowledge from the indigenous Adi people to position camera traps at pangolin burrows near jhum (shifting cultivation) areas. The Adi linked pangolin presence to these cultivated zones, where felled wood attracts termites. Camera-trap capture rates reached 5.1 percent, described as comparable to or higher than rates reported in other pangolin studies across Africa and Asia.

At Gunung Naning forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Planet Indonesia and WildMon deployed camera traps alongside acoustic recorders at 100 pre-selected sites beginning in January 2025. This integrated monitoring approach, supported by Cartier for Nature, feeds data directly into existing community SMART patrol operations.

The Pangolin Universal Notching System

Published in Oryx in 2024, the Pangolin Universal Notching System (PUNS) provides a standardised, low-cost method for individually identifying pangolins. By drilling small holes in selected scales in specific patterns, researchers can assign unique identities to up to 15,554 individual animals. PUNS is already in use for Sunda, black-bellied, white-bellied, and Temminck’s pangolins across multiple field sites.

The significance of PUNS lies in its simplicity. GPS trackers require batteries, maintenance, and eventually detach or fail. Camera traps require grid deployment and data processing. PUNS markings are permanent, require no electronic equipment, and enable individual identification during any subsequent encounter, whether by researchers, community monitors, or rehabilitation centres receiving confiscated animals. Combined with photographic identification databases being developed by organisations like the AfriCat Foundation, PUNS creates a layered identification system that bridges high-tech and low-tech monitoring approaches.

Satellite Imagery and Habitat Monitoring

Pangolin conservation depends not only on tracking individual animals but on monitoring the landscapes they inhabit. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite, launched on 30 July 2025 and declared fully operational in January 2026, represents a step change in habitat monitoring capability. Valued at approximately US$1.5 billion, NISAR carries L-band and S-band radar that penetrates cloud cover and forest canopies, delivering free global imagery on a 12-day repeat cycle.

For pangolin species like the Sunda pangolin, whose range in Southeast Asia overlaps with some of the world’s most active deforestation frontiers, this satellite monitoring capability translates directly into actionable conservation intelligence. Identifying forest loss events within weeks rather than months allows rapid response by ranger teams and triggers legal interventions before clearance becomes irreversible.

SERCA: Merging Patrol Data with Real-Time Sensors

The Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) has been adopted at over 1,200 conservation sites in more than 100 countries, providing a standardised platform for recording patrol routes, wildlife sightings, and enforcement actions. In October 2025, SMART and EarthRanger announced a merger into the SMART-EarthRanger Conservation Alliance (SERCA), combining SMART’s data collection framework with EarthRanger’s real-time sensor visualisation. Together they serve over 2,000 protected areas.

For pangolin conservation, the practical impact of SERCA is demonstrated at Gunung Naning in Indonesia, where community-led SMART patrol teams have operated for four years. Their systematic patrols, recording snare locations, logging activity, and wildlife signs, contributed to a 70 percent decline in illegal hunting and logging in the area. In 2025, the teams integrated bioacoustic recorders and camera traps into their patrol data, creating a monitoring system where human observation and sensor data feed into a single analysis platform.

Environmental DNA: The Next Frontier

Environmental DNA (eDNA), genetic material shed by organisms into soil, water, and air, offers the prospect of detecting pangolin presence without ever seeing or capturing the animal. A 2025 study in Forensic Science International: Genetics developed a species-specific mitochondrial DNA digital PCR assay for the white-bellied pangolin, achieving 70 to 80 percent identification success from bone and scale samples. While this technique was designed primarily for forensic analysis of seized wildlife products, the primer sets are adaptable for eDNA field sampling.

Soil eDNA has been demonstrated as an effective detection method for terrestrial mammals, including cryptic arboreal species sampled from tree bark and forest floor substrates. No published study has yet applied eDNA soil sampling specifically at pangolin burrow sites, but the combination of validated pangolin-specific primers and proven soil eDNA methodology makes this an obvious and feasible next research step. A successful protocol would enable non-invasive presence surveys across landscapes where pangolins are too sparse and too secretive for any camera trap or GPS tracking programme to reach.

The technology landscape for pangolin conservation has transformed in the past three years. Open-source GPS trackers, targeted camera trap protocols, universal identification systems, satellite-based habitat monitoring, integrated patrol platforms, and emerging eDNA techniques collectively address the detection deficit that has hampered pangolin research for decades. The challenge now is deploying these tools at the scale required to match the geographic range of the crisis, across the forests of Southeast Asia, Central Africa, and the Indian subcontinent where eight pangolin species are running out of time.