MALAYSIA: African Pangolin Scales Worth $2.1 Million Imponded At Kuala Lumpur International Airport

A giant Haul of Pangolin Scales from Africa has been Seized at KLIA

Alert customs officials, acting on a tip-off at Kuala Lumpur's international airport, made a sad discovery: a large haul of pangolin scales. Stuffed in 18 gunny sacks were the scales of an estimated 1,400 African pangolins.

The haul, which weighed 712kg, would have been worth more than RM9 million ($2 million) on the black market.

The scales had been flown from Africa in two separate shipments: one from Accra, Ghana, via Dubai; the other from Kinshaha, Congo, via Nairobi, Kenya, and then Dubai.

The scales were likely destined for Vietnam or China, where many locals continue to ascribe curative properties to the scales of these gentile animals, which have been dubbed "the world's most trafficked mammal."

Think about that: another 1,400 pangolins are dead just so that some people can continue indulging in the fantasy that these scales can cure a variety of ailments. And they are willing to shell out minor fortunes for the scales, a fact that continues to drive a booming illegal trade in the scales of pangolins.

On the Malaysian black market the scales are worth up to 1,500 ringgit ($346) per kilo, but they can fetch far more in China and Vietnam.

Quite a waste of money that since pangolin scales contain nothing but keratin, the same substance found in human hair and fingernails. People might as well be chewing those for the exact same health benefits: none, that is.

Yet inane atavistic beliefs are driving all the eight subspecies of pangolins into extinction in the wild: the four Asian pangolins (the Indian, Philippine, Sunda, and Chinese) and the four African ones (giant, tree, ground, long-tailed).

Over the past decade, an estimate 1 million pangolins have been killed from Africa to Asia for their scales, as well as their meat, which is prized by some people as an "exotic dish" in Vietnam and China, and sadly Malaysia.

Malaysia's Customs Act 1967 prescribes a maximum of three years in prison and a hefty fine for people found to have been smuggling pangolin scales into or out of the country. Meanwhile, CITES has recently banned all international trade in pangolins and their parts in a bid to save them from extinction before it's too late.

Three cheers to Malaysian officials for being alert and seizing the illegal shipments of pangolin scales from Africa. May they remain ever vigilant.

Malaysian authorities said Monday they have seized pangolin scales worth 9.2 million ringgit ($2.1 million) and believed to have been smuggled from Africa.

Deputy customs director Paddy Abdul Halim says officers made two seizures last week at the Kuala Lumpur airport cargo warehouse based on a tip.

On May 2, officers seized eight bags of pangolin scales weighing 408 kilograms that were flown from Ghana and transited in Dubai before arriving at the Kuala Lumpur airport on May 1. Two days later, they found another 10 bags weighing 304 kilograms that originated from Kinshaha, Congo, flown to Nairobi in Kenya and transited in Dubai before arriving in Malaysia on May 2.

The consignments were declared as general products and dry herbs, with fake final destinations, he said.

No arrests were made. Paddy said the case is being investigated for smuggling of prohibited goods.

Eight species of pangolin, or scaly anteater, live in Asia and Africa and are targeted for their scales and meat. More than 1 million have been poached in the past decade, threatening the creature with extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In Vietnam and some parts of China, pangolin meat is considered a delicacy, while its scales of keratin, the protein also found in fingernails and rhino horn, are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. The demand is causing rampant poaching that is decimating the pangolin population.

Pangolins are mammals of the order Pholidota. The one extant family, Manidae, has three genera: Manis, which comprises four species living in Asia, Phataginus, which comprises two species living in Africa, and Smutsia, which comprises two species also living in Africa. These species range in size from 30 to 100 cm (12 to 39 in). A number of extinct pangolin species are also known.

Pangolins have large, protective keratin scales covering their skin, and they are the only known mammals with this feature. They live in hollow trees or burrows, depending on the species. Pangolins are nocturnal, and their diet consists of mainly ants and termites which they capture using their long tongues.

They tend to be solitary animals, meeting only to mate and produce a litter of one to three offspring which are raised for about two years. Pangolins are threatened by hunting for their meat and scales and heavy deforestation of their natural habitats, and are the most trafficked mammals in the world.

Of the eight species of pangolin, four (Phataginus tetradactyla, P. tricuspis, Smutsia gigantea, and S. temminckii) are listed as vulnerable, two (Manis crassicaudata and M. culionensis) are listed as endangered, and two (M. pentadactyla and M. javanica) are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

The name "pangolin" comes from the Malay word pengguling, meaning "one who rolls up".However, the modern name in Standard Malay is "tenggiling", whereas in Indonesian it is "trenggiling".

The physical appearance of a pangolin is marked by large, hardened, overlapping plate-like scales, which are soft on newborn pangolins, but harden as the animal matures. They are made of keratin, the same material of which human fingernails and tetrapod claws are made.

The pangolin's scaled body is comparable to a pine cone or globe artichoke. It can curl up into a ball when threatened, with its overlapping scales acting as armor, while it protects its face by tucking it under its tail. The scales are sharp, providing extra defense from predators.

Pangolins can also emit a noxious-smelling chemical from glands near the anus, similar to the spray of a skunk. They have short legs, with sharp claws which they use for burrowing into termite and ant mounds, as well as climbing.

The tongues of pangolins are extremely long like those of the giant anteater and the tube-lipped nectar bat; the root of the tongue is not attached to their hyoid bone, but is located in the thorax between the sternum and the trachea. Large pangolins can extend their tongues as much as 40 cm (16 in), with a diameter of only 0.5 cm (0.20 in).

Most pangolins are nocturnal animals that use their well-developed sense of smell to find insects. The long-tailed pangolin is also active by day, while other species of pangolins spend most of the daytime sleeping, curled up into a ball.

Arboreal pangolins live in hollow trees, whereas the ground-dwelling species dig tunnels underground, to a depth of 3.5 m (11 ft).

Some pangolins walk with their front claws bent under the foot pad, although they use the entire foot pad on their rear limbs. Furthermore, some exhibit a bipedal stance for some behaviors and may walk a few steps bipedally. Pangolins are also good swimmers.

Pangolins are insectivorous. Most of their diet consists of various species of ants and termites and may be supplemented by other insects, especially larvae. They are somewhat particular and tend to consume only one or two species of insects, even when many species are available to them. A pangolin can consume 140 to 200 gm of insects per day.

Pangolins have a very poor sense of vision, so they rely heavily on smell and hearing. They use their powerful front claws to dig into trees, ground, and vegetation to find prey, then proceed to use their long tongues to probe inside the insect tunnels and retrieve their prey.

Pangolins lack teeth, so also lack the ability to chew; however, while foraging, they ingest small stones which accumulate in their stomachs to help to grind up ants.

Some species, such as the tree pangolin, use their strong, prehensile tails to hang from tree branches and strip away bark from the trunk, exposing insect nests inside.

Pangolins are solitary and meet only to mate. Males are larger than females, weighing up to 40% more. While mating season is defined, they typically mate once each year, usually during the summer or autumn.

Rather than the males seeking out the females, males mark their location with urine or feces and the females will find them. If there is competition over a female, the males will use their tails as clubs to fight for the opportunity to mate with her.

Gestation periods differ by species, ranging from roughly 70 to 140 days. African pangolin females usually give birth to a single offspring at a time, but the Asiatic species may give birth from one to three. Weight at birth is 80 to 450 g (2.8 to 15.9 oz) and the average length is 150 mm (5.9 in). At the time of birth, the scales are soft and white.

After several days, they harden and darken to resemble those of an adult pangolin. During the vulnerable stage, the mother stays with her offspring in the burrow, nursing it, and wraps her body around it if she senses danger. The young cling to the mother's tail as she moves about, although in burrowing species, they remain in the burrow for the first two to four weeks of life.

At one month, they first leave the burrow riding on the mother's back. Weaning takes place around three months of age, at which stage the young begin to eat insects in addition to nursing. At two years of age, the offspring are sexually mature and are abandoned by the mother.

Pangolins are hunted and eaten in many parts of Africa and are one of the more popular types of bush meat, while local healers use the pangolin as a source of traditional medicine. They are also in great demand in southern China and Vietnam because their meat is considered a delicacy and some believe that pangolin scales have medicinal qualities.

Over the past decade, over one million pangolins are believed to have been illegally trafficked, making it the most trafficked animal in the world.This, coupled with deforestation, has led to a large decrease in the numbers of pangolins. Some species, such as Manis pentadactyla have become commercially extinct in certain ranges as a result of overhunting.

In November 2010, pangolins were added to the Zoological Society of London's list of genetically distinct and endangered mammals. All eight species of pangolin are classified by the IUCN as threatened to extinction, while two are classified as critically endangered.

Though pangolins are protected by an international ban on their trade, populations have suffered from illegal trafficking due to unfounded beliefs in East Asia that their ground-up scales can stimulate lactation or cure cancer or asthma.In the past decade, numerous seizures of illegally trafficked pangolin and pangolin meat have taken place in Asia.

In one such incident in April 2013, 10,000 kg (11 short tons) of pangolin meat were seized from a Chinese vessel that ran aground in the Philippines. In another case in August 2016, an Indonesian man was arrested after police raided his home and found over 650 pangolins in freezers on his property.

As a result of increasing threats to pangolins, mainly in the form of illegal, international trade in pangolin skin, scales, and meat, these species have received increasing conservation attention in recent years. For example, in 2014, the IUCN recategorised all eight species of pangolin on its Red List of Threatened Species, and each species is now properly listed as being threatened with extinction.

Also, the IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group launched a global action plan to conserve pangolins, dubbed Scaling up Pangolin Conservation in July 2014. This action plan aims to improve all aspects of pangolin conservation with an added emphasis on combating poaching and trafficking of the animal, while educating communities in its importance.

Many attempts have been made to reproduce pangolins in captivity, but due to their reliance on wide-ranging habitats and very particular diets, these attempts are often unsuccessful. They are susceptible to diseases such as pneumonia and the development of ulcers in captivity, complications which can lead to an early death.

In addition, pangolins rescued from illegal trade often have a higher chance of being infected with parasites such as intestinal worms, further lessening their chance for rehabilitation and reintroduction to the wild.Recently, researchers have been able to improve artificial pangolin habitats to allow for reproduction of pangolins, providing some hope for future reintroduction of these species into their natural habitats.

Pangolins were formerly classified with various other orders, for example Xenarthra, which includes the ordinary anteaters, sloths, and the similar-looking armadillos. Newer genetic evidence, however, indicates their closest living relatives are the Carnivora with which they form the clade Ferae.

Some palaeontologists placed Ernanodonta in a separate suborder of Cimolesta near Pholidota, have classified the pangolins in the order Cimolesta, together with several extinct groups indicated (†) below, though this idea has fallen out of favor since cimolestids have been determined to have not been placental mammals.A recent study has supported close affinities between pangolins and the extinct groups Creodonta, Oxyaenidae and Hyaenodonta.

Until recently, all species of living pangolin had been assigned to the genus Manis. Recent research has supported the splitting of extant pangolins into three genera: Manis, Phataginus, and Smutsia.