PREVIEW

An adorable white-bellied pangolin was born at Brookfield Zoo Chicago on 25 July 2024 - and is now clinging to its mother.

With this birth, there are now 13 pangolins, one of the most trafficked mammals in the world, at the Zoo, including a successful second-generation birth that occurred in 2022.

The recent pup and its mother, Virginia, are behind the scenes along with 10 other pangolins as part of a conservation breeding programme.


With Brookfield Zoo Chicago being just one of only a few zoos in the U.S. to have successfully bred and birthed pangolins, the new “pangopup” is a welcome addition to a small population that lives in zoological settings and helps advance experts’ understanding of the species’ reproductive behaviours and needs.

“Having pangolins in professional care provides a great opportunity for scientists and zoo specialists to learn as much as we can about the species’ natural history, which allows us to share this vital information and collaborate with in situ partners to ensure conservation success for pangolins in the wild,” said Mark Wanner, associate vice president of animal care and conservation. “It also gives us the opportunity to raise awareness about the plight all pangolins world-wide are facing due to illegal and unsustainable harvesting for food and scales.”

In 2016, Brookfield Zoo Chicago led the way to establish the North American Pangolin Consortium with the objective to have a sustainable population of white-bellied pangolins under professional care to aid in better understanding the unique animal’s behavior and physiology and to support field conservation efforts for this endangered species.

Over the past eight years, Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s animal care and veterinary staff has gained significant insight, and has published five papers about this nocturnal mammal, which is nicknamed the “scaly anteater.”

For instance, it was thought gestation for the white-bellied pangolin was about 140 to 150 days, which has been documented in other pangolin species. However, at Brookfield Zoo, staff recorded gestation to be upwards of just over 200 days that might suggest a delayed embryo implantation. Additionally, young stay with their mothers until about 5 to 6 months of age and are sexually reproductive at about 18 months.

Caring for these animals in a zoo environment is a delicate process.

Ranging from vulnerable to critically endangered, there are four species of pangolins native to Asia and four are native to Africa—and the populations for all eight species are declining. Annually, upwards of 200,000 individual animals are poached from the wild for food in the illegal bushmeat trade. Their scales are also used in Asian medicines and in pieces of jewelry.

Efforts to prevent uncontrolled poaching have failed to reduce losses. Habitat loss and degradation is another main threat to the species. The situation for pangolins has reached a critical level in Asia and could soon reach the same critical level in Africa.