Received: 27 May 2017 | Revised: 14 September 2017 | Accepted: 17 October 2017 DOI: 10.1002/zoo.21388 RESEARCH ARTICLE Keeping and breeding the rescued Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) in captivity Fuhua Zhang | Jiaming Yu | Shibao Wu | Shaoshan Li | Cuiyun Zou | Qiaoyun Wang | Ruyong Sun School of Life Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, P. R. China The Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica Desmarest, 1822) is a Critically Endangered species. Given that this species lacks effective policies for in situ conservation and Correspondence Shibao Wu and Shaoshan Li, Professor, prevention of poaching in the wild, ex situ conservation and a captive breeding program College of Life Sciences, South China Normal are urgently needed to save this species from extinction. However, techniques for the University, No.55, Zhongshan Avenue West, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510631, P. R. maintenance and captive breeding of pangolins have not been well developed. In China. June 2010, we established the Pangolin Research Base for Artificial Rescue and Email: [email protected] (S.W.); [email protected] (S.L.) Conservation Breeding of South China Normal University (PRB-SCNU). To date, a total of 34 Sunda pangolin cubs have been born at PRB-SCNU, 26 of which were captive Funding information Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong bred, indicating great progress in keeping and breeding the Sunda pangolin. The Province, Grant number: S2013010013356; techniques for maintenance—including housing, transitioning to an artificial diet, Special Fund for Significant Science and Technology in Social Development Field of husbandry, and captive breeding—are described in this paper. The purpose of this Guangdong Province, Grant number: manuscript is to share our successful experiences and techniques in the maintenance, 2011A030100012; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant numbers: management, and captive breeding of Sunda pangolins, and to provide guidance and a 31572286, 31670266, 31702029; reference for the captive care and management of Sunda pangolins and other pangolin Guangdong Province Universities and Colleges Pearl River Scholar Funded Scheme species. (2012); China Environmental Protection Foundation KEYWORDS captive breeding, diet transition, husbandry, maintenance, Pholidota 1 | INTRODUCTION Phillips, 1985; Wu, Wang, & Feng, 2005). This species has a low reproductive rate, as each pangolin always gives birth to only one There are eight extant species of pangolins worldwide belonging to the offspring at a time and breeds only once a year (Zhang, Wu, et al., 2015). mammalian Order Pholidota, Family Manidae (Corbet & Hill, 1992; In the last few decades, habitat loss and hunting to supply the Gaubert & Antunes 2005). Also called “scaly-anteaters,” because their international trade for live pangolins, skins, scales, and meat has led to body surfaces are covered by overlapping scales, they consume mainly the wild population declining dramatically and an inverted pyramid age ants and termites in the wild (Heath & Vanderlip, 1988). Sunda pangolins structure (Challender, Thai, Jones, & May, 2012; Challender et al., 2014; (Manis javanica Desmarest, 1822) are distributed in Southeast Asia, Challender, Harrop, & MacMillan, 2015; Yang et al., 2015). Therefore, including Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, the Sunda pangolin was assessed as Critically Endangered on the Menglian County of Puer City, and Mengla County of Xishuangbanna, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Yunnan Province, China, and other Southeast Asia regions (Challender Threatened Species in 2014 (Challender et al., 2014), and was also listed et al., 2014; Francis, 2008; Gaubert & Antunes, 2005; Payne, Francis, & in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in 2017 (CITES, 2017), which bans Shibao Wu and Shaoshan Li contributed equally to this work. international trade in wild caught pangolins for commercial purposes. Zoo Biology. 2017;1–10. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/zoo © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. | 1 2 | ZHANG ET AL. Since current policies appear ineffective for in situ conservation of the enclosures at PRB-SCNU are in a large room. Housing details for and prevention of poaching in the wild, ex situ conservation is urgently Sunda pangolins have been described by Zhang, Wu, et al. (2015). needed for the Sunda pangolin through the rescued individuals from Experience indicates that the best ambient temperature for Sunda the illegal trade into artificial environments to establish a long-term pangolins is 29–32°C. Pangolins display obvious cold stress (body viable artificial population to save this species from extinction. Ex situ rolled tightly into a ball and even shaking) when the ambient conservation protects endangered animals and plants by removing the temperature is below 20°C, and large temperature fluctuations can species to an artificial environment or other area and is the last also lead to pneumonia. In addition, the cold, dry climate in winter conservation scheme for some species that are on the verge of (temperature and humidity are typically below 20°C and 60%, extinction. The principle of ex situ conservation is that wildlife can be respectively) can lead to dryness or cracking of the skin of some maintained and bred in an artificial environment. Since 1929, at least individuals (Figure 1). Therefore, the room is equipped with under- 20 institutions have attempted to keep Sunda pangolins in captivity floor heating and an air humidifier to control the temperature and (Clark, Thai, & Phuong, 2008; Challender et al., 2012; Vijayan, Yeong, & humidity of the enclosures and provide the pangolins with a warm and Ling, 2008; Wang et al., 2015; Yang et al., 2007; Yu, Peng, Liao, Jiang, & humid artificial environment without large fluctuations in temperature Ma, 2016); however, there has been no substantial success in the and humidity. The Sunda pangolin is nocturnal, so we also equip each maintenance and captive breeding of this species, mainly because enclosure with a monitor so that we can observe the undisturbed pangolins are highly specialized animals with poor immunity (Choo behavior of captive animals, record and review activity throughout the et al., 2016) that are unable to adapt to environmental changes; there is night, and collect data on this species’ activity pattern. a lack of knowledge of pangolin biology and ecology to address their Space is an essential resource for survival; thus, limited space is captive needs; and there is a lack of mastery of techniques to maintain likely to be a limiting factor on behavior and may be a source of stress in captive pangolins, with no concrete method as a guideline. captive animals (Jiang, 2004). The home range of some pangolin In the past several years, many live Sunda pangolins have been species is known. The tree pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) has a small smuggled into Guangdong Province, China, and some have been home range of only 150–330 m2 (Pages, 1975). The range of the Cape confiscated by the Forest Police. However, these confiscated pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) is 0.17–11.07 km2 (Heath & Coulson, pangolins could not be released cursorily into the wild. Because, 1997), and the mean home range of male Sunda pangolins is 0.41 km2 firstly, China is a marginal range for Sunda pangolins, and the trade- (n = 3) (Lim, 2007). However, captive pangolin enclosures in many confiscated individuals with unknown origin likely emanated from institutions are less than 10 m2, with the smallest only 0.5 m2 (Chin Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc, it would cause such as genetic et al., 2011; Ogilvie & Bridgwater, 1967; Vijayan et al., 2008; Wilson, pollution of populations if these Sunda pangolins were released 1994; Yang et al., 2007). This suggests that the sizes of captive elsewhere in its range; Secondly, it is very difficult to survival for these enclosures are very different (too small) from the natural home range rescued individuals when they are released into elsewhere in their area, which may be a major reason for the failure of captive pangolins. range (Wu, Ma, Liao, & Lu, 2005); Thirdly, in the present time, we don’t At PRB-SCNU, each enclosure is 15 m2 (3.0 m wide, 5.0 m long, and have effective conservative measures to stop poaching in the wild. 1.5 m high). Experience indicates that an enclosure with these Hence, we think the best solution is to maintain the trade-confiscated dimensions can meet the animal's demand for space. Pangolins can pangolins in captivity and establish an artificial population by captive survive, grow, and reproduce well in such an enclosure. This is similar breeding, and at the appropriate time, to release these rescued individuals or their offspring into wild areas where is proper by prudent evaluating. Given that, we established the Pangolin Research Base for Artificial Rescue and Conservation Breeding of South China Normal University (PRB-SCNU) in June 2010. The longest survival time for a captive Sunda pangolin is now more than 5 years, and 26 females have become pregnant and given birth at the PRB-SCNU, indicating great progress in rearing, breeding, and maintaining this species. In this paper, we discuss the techniques and management experience that we have obtained on housing, husbandry, and captive breeding of the Sunda pangolin at PRB-SCNU. This provides a reference for Sunda pangolin rescue and captive breeding, and a guide to the improvement of captive care and management of other pangolin species. 1.1 | Housing The Sunda pangolin is a tropical species that needs a warm and humid climate and cannot tolerate extremely cold weather (Challender et al., FIGURE 1 Flaky and chapped skin of the captive Sunda pangolin 2012; Wilson, 1994). Thus, to control the artificial ambient climate, all MJ60 ZHANG ET AL. | 3 to Heath and Vanderlip's (1988) argument that Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) require a minimum of 10–12 m2. A nest box (0.8 m long, 0.8 m wide, and 0.6 m high) with an entrance 0.25 m long by 0.25 m wide is provided in one corner of each enclosure for captive pangolins to sleep in.