On Foot and by Drone, Radio Tracking Helps Rehabilitate Pangolins in Vietnam

Picture: Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay

In an article by Mongabay, Claudia Geib reports on the approach taken by Conservation NGO Save Vietnam’s Wildlife that employs radio tracking to follow rehabilitated pangolins rescued from the illegal wildlife trade.

For the pangolin, radio tracking offers a tremendous boon to research. These mammals are shy and nocturnal. Because they live in dense forest and burrow underground, much of their habits are still unknown. For SVW, radio tracking pangolins on foot and using a new radio telemetry-equipped drone is revealing previously unknown facets of the animals’ lives, as well as refining the reintroduction process. But like many conservation organizations, their work is also limited by funding challenges.

In 2023, SVW’s team published their first paper on the results of tracking pangolins, using data from 2018-2021 across three of Vietnam’s national parks. In addition to providing a baseline for the normal home range of Sunda pangolin, which average around 1.5 square kilometers (0.6 square miles), the research gave the team valuable information about where to release their scaly charges. For example, they discovered that male pangolins will usually high-tail it out of an area if they find signs of other male pangolins, such as scratch marks on trees, to avoid a conflict.