ETHNOZOOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TRADITIONAL USES OF TEMMINCK’S GROUND PANGOLIN (Smutsia temminckii, Smuts 1832) WITHIN SOUTH AFRICAN TRIBAL COMMUNITIES FALLING IN THE SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONAL RANGE BY BAIYEWU, Abimbola Olayinka Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MAGISTER TECHNOLOGIAE: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT in the Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences FACULTY OF SCIENCE TSHWANE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Supervisor: Prof R Jansen Co-supervisor: Prof A Kotzé Co-supervisor: Dr D Dalton May 2016 Copyright© Tshwane University of Technology 2016 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the dissertation submitted for the degree M Tech: Environmental Management, at Tshwane University of Technology, is my own original work and has not previously been submitted to any other institution of higher education. I further declare that all sources cited or quoted are indicated and acknowledged by means of a comprehensive list of references. BAIYEWU, ABIMBOLA OLAYINKA May 2016 i DEDICATION This work is dedicated to God Almighty, who made all things perfect, for constantly being with me. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was conducted under the auspices of the Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences of the Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa. I would like to thank the various tribal communities and their leaders for allowing me to carry out the data collection with them. Thank you goes to these game reserves and their officials for introducing me and the project to the tribal communities; Lepalale game reserve, Limpopo; Phinda game reserve in northern KwaZulu Natal and Moholoholo rehabilitation centre, Mpumalanga. A special thank you goes to my supervisor, Prof Ray Jansen for his patience, input, encouragement and invaluable advice at all times and also for the use of his contacts in the course of the project. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to attend conferences. Financial support for this project was received from Tshwane University of Technology and the National Zoological Gardens/the National Research Foundation and is gratefully acknowledged. The African Working Pangolin Group for their support, Darren Pietersen for the inexhaustible supply of journal articles. My gratitude cannot be expressed in words. My profound gratitude goes to Lerato Mokoma and Ndivhuho Mudau for their friendship and their help in interpreting during and translating after each of the interview sessions. Lastly, my many thanks go to the numerous communities’ members who gave up their time to allow us to interview them for their hospitality. To my family, nuclear and extended, far and near, thank you for all the love, support and prayers. I am eternally grateful to you all. iii ABSTRACT Pangolins are evolutionarily distinct in that they are the only representatives of an entire mammalian order, the Pholidota. Temminck’s ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) is one of the four extant African pangolin species. It is a medium-sized mammal commonly called a scaly anteater and is of the family Manidae. They are considered to be very rare in South Africa and believed to be declining in most parts of their range and this species was recently up-listed to Vulnerable from Least Concerned by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (ZSL & IUCN, 2014; IUCN, 2015). Pangolins are solitary animals that are revered in most South African communities because of their believed mystical powers and economic values. It is further believed that there is an extremely high demand for the species for traditional medicine purposes throughout southern Africa based on their perceived ability to cure a diverse number of ailments making use of the various pangolin body parts. It is therefore believed that the species is threatened as a result of this exploitation for traditional medicine purposes and other cultural beliefs. However, no studies have been carried out to document the various uses of the animal within tribal communities throughout its range in Africa. The aim of the study is to investigate the uses of the species for traditional, cultural and medicinal purposes and the potential these may have on the prevalence and distribution of this vulnerable species within its known distributional range within South Africa. In conjunction with this, this study aims to estimate the current need for the species within South African tribal communities and to document the associated uses of pangolin body parts to try and quantify this use as a potential threat to the species. Individuals, elders and traditional healers within tribal communities throughout the species known distributional range in South Africa were interviewed, namely in the Sepedi, Zulu, Tsonga, Venda, Tswana, SiSwati and Ndebele tribes. It was found that the use of the animal in the communities rode basically on the belief system of the people. The animals’ scales iv were the most frequent body part utilised to treat a wide array of ailments. Following this, the blood, fat, bones and meat were often prescribed for a particular disease or an ailment. Not only were pangolin body parts prescribed for medicinal purposes but often prescribed for protection against harm or to ward off evil spirits by either having a scale and/or blood on person or including the fat and/or blood into the building material of houses and livestock pens. In some instances, the meat is also considered a delicacy. In sourcing the animals, communities would either actively hunt pangolins or opportunistically make use of those that are found as road kills. In some cases, large sums of money are offered to source pangolins specifically for traditional medicine. Knowledge about the species was more prevalent among the elderly and generally the species was less well known amongst younger rural people. Nevertheless, the species is still regarded as an important and sought-after organism for traditional medicine in South Africa and, as such, traditional medicine can pose a significant threat to the species population status throughout its distributional range. v CONTENTS CONTENTS PAGE DECLARATION i DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii ABSTRACT iv LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES xi LIST OF APPENDICES xii GLOSSARY xiii vi CHAPTER ONE Page Introduction 1 1.1 Problem statement 6 1.2 Aims and Objectives 7 CHAPTER TWO Literature Review : African Pangolins 8 2.1 The origins of Pangolins 9 2.1.1 Pangolins in general 10 2.1.2 Taxonomy of Pangolins 13 2.1.3 Variation in pangolins genera 14 2.2 Geographical distribution of the African Pangolins 18 2.3 Ecology of Pangolins 21 2.3.1 Feeding habits 23 2.3.2 Ontogeny and reproduction in Pangolins 26 2.4 Benefits of Pangolins to ecosystems 27 2.5 Threats to Pangolins 27 2.5.1 Hunting pressure 28 2.5.2 Local and international Trade 29 2.5.3 Pangolin predators and parasites 32 2.5.4 Electric Fences 33 2.5.5 Market-related impacts 34 2.5.6 Pangolins as food and medicine 35 2.5.7 Cultural uses and implications 40 2.5.8 Other threats 41 vii 2.6 Conservation and legislation of Pangolins 44 2.6.1 Possible mitigation measures 48 2.6.2 Pangolin trade 49 CHAPTER THREE Materials and Methods 51 3.1 Experimental Design 51 3.2 Study sites 52 3.3 Methodology 52 3.4 Data analysis 55 3.4.1 Use value 55 3.4.2 Informant Agreement Ratio 56 3.4.3 Use Agreement Value 56 CHAPTER FOUR Results 58 Challenges faced in the course of the study 66 CHAPTER FIVE Discussion 68 5.1 Pangolin body parts and their uses 69 5.2 Traditional and cultural beliefs about the pangolins in the 72 tribal communities 5.3 Conclusion s and Recommendations 74 5.3.1 Conclusions 74 5.3.2 Recommendations 76 viii REFERENCES 78 APPENDICES 94 ix LIST OF TABLES PAGE TABLE 2.1 Temminck’s ground pangolin’s names in various languages across the globe 12 TABLE 2.2 Temminck’s ground pangolin’s names in various languages across South 12 Africa TABLE 2.3 Pangolin legislation in South African provinces 47 TABLE 4.1 Gender distribution of respondents within South African tribal communities 59 TABLE 4.2 Age class distribution within South African tribal communities 59 TABLE 4.3 Pangolin body parts used and prescribed for the treatment of various ailments 63 within South African tribal communities TABLE 4.4 Frequency (% of total) pangolin body parts used within South African tribal 64 communities TABLE 4.5 Pangolin body parts and their use values (UV), informant agreement ratios 65 (IAR) and use agreement values (UAV) by respondents from South African tribal communities TABLE 4.6 Frequency of pangolin sightings within South African tribal communities 66 x LIST OF FIGURES PAGE FIGURE 1.1 Temminck’s ground pangolin Smutsia temminckii 3 FIGURE 1.2 Population distribution of the pangolin species in Africa 3 FIGURE 2.1 Temminck’s ground pangolin Smutsia temminckii curled up in a defensive ball 9 FIGURE 2.2 Phylogeny of Pholidota based on PAUP analysis 16 FIGURE 2.3 Biogeographic distributions of Pholidotamorpha mapped onto one of the two MPT 17 FIGURE 2.4 Pangolin phylogenetic tree 18 FIGURE 2.5 Distribution of Temminck’s ground pangolin in South Africa 20 FIGURE 2.6a Temminck’s ground pangolin Smutsia temminckii in water 22 FIGURE 2.6b Temminck’s ground pangolin Smutsia temminckii swimming 23 FIGURE 2.7 White-bellied pangolins traded by the road-side in Sierra Leone for bush meat 31 FIGURE 2.8 Pangolins confiscated in Asian illegal trade 31 FIGURE 2.9 Temminck’s ground pangolin Smutsia temminckii wrapped around an electrified 33 wire on the fence of a game reserve FIGURE 2.10 Pangolin skin and scales hanging in a muti