Giant pangolin spotted in country after quarter-century absence

Giant pangolin spotted in country after quarter-century absence

A giant pangolin was seen in the west African nation of Senegal, after a 24-year period in which no pangolins were found in that country at all:

“Nobody suspected that the pangolin is still alive in” this region, said Mouhamadou Mody Ndiaye of the wildlife monitoring group Panthera….

Giant pangolins are shy, solitary and nocturnal – so unlikely to be found often outside of their burrows. A giant pangolin was last captured and formally identified in Senegal in April 1967. Three decades later, an ecological survey discovered two individuals. Since then, conservationists haven’t spotted a single giant pangolin.

That is, until 8 March 2023, when one was snapped plodding along a dry riverbed at 1.37am. The snapshot was captured by one of 217 survey camera traps scattered throughout more than 4000 square kilometers of the Niokolo-Koba National Park…

This sighting suggests Niokolo-Koba National Park could serve as the last stronghold for monitoring and conserving the pangolin in Senegal.

Other animals are also making a comeback. In Spain, the Iberian lynx is no longer an endangered species.

Wild horses recently returned to Kazakhstan after an absence of 200 years. These are genuine wild horses, unlike mustangs, which are domesticated horses that went wild. By contrast, domesticated horses are descended from the wild horses in Kazakhstan, since the grassy plains of northern Kazakhstan were the first place on earth where horses were domesticated.

Last year, a baby beaver was born in London, the first beaver birth there in 400 years. And carnivorous plants were reintroduced to English wetlands.

A dog recently discovered a species of mole long thought to be extinct, De Winton’s golden mole. Crocodiles are flourishing in Australia, where they once verged on extinction.

Florida’s manatees have rebounded to their highest number in years. Sea turtles are proliferating, with sea turtle nests tripling in Florida.

An Asian antelope declared extinct in Bangladesh is making a comeback.

The forests that provide the habitat for many endangered species are also making a comeback in much of the world. The amount of vegetation on the Earth has increased every year for the past 30 years. Most of the world’s forests are growing.

LU Staff

LU Staff

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