Pangolins Exhibited At Brookfield Zoo For The First Time

BROOKFIELD, IL — For the first time in its history, the Chicago Zoological Society, which manages Brookfield Zoo, is exhibiting the pangolin, a rare and unique animal found in Africa and Asia. According to a release, since April 2016, the society has welcomed 13 white-bellied tree pangolins to the zoo. Guests can see a male on exhibit in the Habitat Africa! The Forest.

The zoo said four species of pangolins are native to Asia and four are native to Africa—and they are all facing extinction. Over the past 10 years, more than a million have been poached from the wild for food in the illegal bushmeat trade, for their use in Asian medicines, and for their scales, which are made into jewelry. Efforts to prevent uncontrolled poaching have failed to reduce losses. The situation for pangolins has reached a critical level in Asia and will soon reach the same critical level in Africa. This past January, all species of pangolin were officially declared endangered.

According to a release, the plight of these animals has spurred six zoological institutions in the United States, including the society, and one private not-for-profit organization into taking action. They have formed a Consortium that is working to establish a sustainable population of white-bellied tree pangolins under professional care to aid in better understanding their behavior and physiology and to support field conservation efforts. The other members of this Consortium are Pittsburgh Zoo, Turtleback Zoo, Memphis Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Gladys Porter Zoo and the not-for-profit Zoologica.

The zoo said during the first year of the Consortium’s program, several member institutions, including Brookfield Zoo, have had successful births.

According to a release, consortium members can reach over 7.8 million guests a year with information about pangolins. Despite increased media and social media coverage of the illegal activities surrounding pangolins, most people in North America don’t know what a pangolin is and have no knowledge of the threats to their survival.

“The program and its future abilities to support pangolin conservation is very exciting for us,” Bill Zeigler, senior vice president for animal programs for CZS, said in a release. “The Society believes that successful conservation is about building leadership and collaborative efforts among institutions and range countries. The ability to introduce pangolins to Chicagoland and share their story with the more than two million guests who visit Brookfield Zoo every year is an incredible opportunity to educate the public about pangolins and crucial efforts the Society has embarked on to help conserve these species. The more people learn, the more they are willing to help.”

The zoo said pangolins have a distinctive look with a cone-shaped head, a long prehensile (grasping) tail, and a body that is covered with sharp, artichoke-shaped scales made of keratin. Often referred to as scaly anteaters, pangolins have the same long, muscular tongue as anteaters, covered with sticky saliva used to scoop up ants and termites. Adult pangolins can eat up to 20,000 ants and termites a day, adding up to 7.3 million ants and termites in one year.

Photos provided by the Chicago Zoological Society.