Genetic test tracks origins of illegal pangolin products in China, adding to conservation toolkit

An international team of scientists say they have developed a new method to identify the origin of pangolin scales, adding to the toolkit for cracking down on the poaching and trafficking of the endangered animal, which is prized in China.

The researchers found that poaching activity shifted from West to Central Africa from 2012 to 2018 as the Asian pangolin population shrank, with Cameroon’s southern border emerging as a poaching hotspot.