How Are Pangolin Populations Monitored? Methods and Challenges

Pangolin population monitoring is one of the most demanding tasks in wildlife conservation. All eight species of pangolin are listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List, yet for most of them, reliable population estimates simply do not exist. Unlike elephants, which can be counted from the air, or lions, whose roars carry across the savanna, pangolins are solitary, nocturnal, and spend much of their lives underground. Developing accurate methods for how to count pangolins has become a critical priority for conservationists, particularly as trafficking pressure continues to drive declines across Africa and Asia.

This article examines the principal pangolin survey methods in use today, the unique obstacles researchers face, and the emerging technologies that may transform our understanding of these elusive animals.

Why Monitoring Pangolins Is So Difficult

Before exploring specific pangolin research techniques, it is important to understand why pangolins resist conventional survey approaches. Most large-mammal censuses rely on at least one of the following: the animal is visible from a distance, it lives in groups, it vocalises loudly, or it leaves conspicuous tracks. Pangolins fail on every count.

• Nocturnal and solitary. Pangolins are active almost exclusively at night and travel alone, making direct observation rare even for researchers who spend months in the field.
• Cryptic behaviour. When threatened, pangolins curl into a tight ball and remain motionless. Their keratinous scales blend with leaf litter and soil, rendering them nearly invisible to both human observers and thermal cameras.
• Underground refugia. Many species, including South Africa’s Temminck’s ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii), shelter in deep burrows, aardvark holes, or rock crevices during the day, removing them from surface-based detection.
• Low population density. Even in healthy habitats, pangolins are believed to occur at densities of fewer than one individual per square kilometre, making encounter rates exceedingly low.
• Vast home ranges. GPS-tracked Temminck’s ground pangolins in South Africa have been recorded using home ranges of up to 25 square kilometres, meaning that a single animal may pass through a survey area only once over several weeks.

These characteristics mean that no single method can deliver a comprehensive population estimate. Researchers instead rely on a suite of complementary techniques, each providing a different piece of the puzzle.

Established Survey Methods

Camera Traps

Camera traps are widely regarded as the backbone of pangolin population monitoring. Motion-activated infrared cameras are deployed along known or suspected pangolin movement corridors, often near burrow entrances, termite mounds, or water sources. When a pangolin triggers the sensor, the camera captures a time-stamped photograph or video.

In South Africa, the African Pangolin Working Group (APWG) and affiliated researchers have used camera trap arrays to monitor Temminck’s ground pangolin in the Lowveld and Kalahari regions. Researchers have found that detection probability improves significantly when cameras are placed at burrow entrances rather than along random transect lines. Individual identification remains a challenge, however: unlike leopards or wild dogs, pangolins do not have unique coat patterns easily distinguishable from photographs, though scale-pattern recognition is being explored.

GPS and Satellite Tracking

Fitting pangolins with GPS or VHF radio transmitters provides the most detailed behavioural and spatial data available. Researchers in South Africa and other range states have attached lightweight transmitters to the base of the tail or to scales using epoxy resin, allowing them to follow individual animals over weeks or months.

GPS tracking has revealed critical information about habitat use, movement corridors, and seasonal activity patterns. In the South African context, satellite-tracked Temminck’s ground pangolins have demonstrated that individuals often cross farm boundaries and move between protected and unprotected land, highlighting the need for landscape-level conservation planning. The method is labour-intensive, however, and is typically limited to small sample sizes.

Scat Surveys and Burrow Counts

Indirect evidence of pangolin presence — droppings, digging marks, and burrow entrances — can be surveyed along standardised transects. Scat surveys are particularly useful because pangolin droppings are distinctive: small, elongated pellets composed almost entirely of ant and termite exoskeletons.

Burrow counts, where researchers systematically search defined areas for active burrows, have been used in savanna habitats across southern Africa. By estimating the ratio of active to abandoned burrows and combining this with known occupancy rates, researchers can generate rough density estimates. These methods are cost-effective but are believed to underestimate true populations because pangolins frequently change burrows.

Citizen Science and Community Reporting

Given the vast areas over which pangolins range, professional field teams alone cannot achieve sufficient geographic coverage. Citizen science programmes fill this gap by enlisting farmers, game rangers, and members of the public to report sightings.

In South Africa, the APWG maintains the most comprehensive pangolin sightings database on the continent. Reports submitted by landowners, field guides, and conservation officers are verified, georeferenced, and incorporated into distribution models. This approach has been instrumental in identifying previously unknown population clusters. Similar community-based reporting initiatives operate in Nepal, the Philippines, and several West African countries.

Citizen science provides the geographic scale that professional surveys cannot. A single verified sighting from a remote farm can reshape our understanding of a species’ range. — APWG research summary

Advanced and Emerging Techniques

DNA Analysis and Faecal Genotyping

Non-invasive genetic sampling has become an increasingly important tool in the pangolin researcher’s arsenal. DNA extracted from scat, shed scales, or tissue fragments can be used to identify species, distinguish individuals through microsatellite profiling, and assess population genetic diversity.

Faecal DNA genotyping is especially promising for pangolin survey methods because it enables capture-recapture population modelling without any need to physically handle the animal. By collecting scat samples across a study area over multiple sessions and genotyping each one, researchers can estimate how many distinct individuals are present. This technique has been applied to Chinese pangolins in Hong Kong and is believed to hold significant potential for Temminck’s ground pangolin in South Africa.

Environmental DNA (eDNA)

Environmental DNA analysis represents the cutting edge of biodiversity monitoring. Every organism sheds genetic material into its surroundings through skin cells, mucus, and faeces. By collecting soil or water samples near suspected pangolin burrows and filtering them for pangolin-specific DNA sequences, researchers can confirm species presence without ever observing the animal directly.

While eDNA has been used successfully for aquatic species, its application to pangolins is still in the early experimental phase. Researchers have noted that the technique works best in humid environments where DNA degrades slowly, and that arid savanna conditions may limit its reliability for Temminck’s ground pangolin.

AI-Powered Image Recognition

The volume of data generated by camera trap networks is enormous, and manually reviewing thousands of images to identify pangolins is time-consuming and error-prone. Artificial intelligence and machine learning models trained to recognise pangolins in camera trap imagery are now being developed to automate this process.

Early results are promising. AI classifiers have achieved estimated accuracy rates above 90% in distinguishing pangolins from other nocturnal species in controlled datasets. When combined with scale-pattern recognition algorithms, these systems may eventually enable automated individual identification, transforming camera trap arrays into a near-real-time pangolin population monitoring network.

Why Accurate Population Data Matters

The question of how to count pangolins is not merely academic. Conservation policy, anti-poaching resource allocation, and CITES trade regulations all depend on reliable population data. Without baseline estimates, it is impossible to measure whether protection measures are working or to set meaningful recovery targets.

In South Africa, provincial conservation authorities use APWG data to inform permitting decisions for wildlife translocations and to prioritise anti-poaching patrols. At the international level, the IUCN Pangolin Specialist Group has identified improved population monitoring as one of its top strategic priorities, noting that the current data gap is believed to be the single greatest obstacle to effective pangolin conservation planning.

As trafficking seizures continue to involve tens of thousands of individuals annually, the urgency of establishing reliable monitoring systems cannot be overstated. Every unmonitored population can decline to critical levels before anyone notices.