New Photobook Shines a Light on Pangolins — the World’s Most Trafficked Mammal

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Photographs aim to spark awareness for a secretive species

With armor-like scales covering its body and tail, five-toed, sharply clawed feet and a worm-like tongue that can extend up to 25 cm (10 inches), the pangolin often looks more like a prehistoric creature than a modern mammal. "They kind of remind you of the past because of the way they walk on their back legs, and they carry their little front legs up. It’s almost like a little T‑Rex walking along," says wildlife photographer and safari guide Tristan Dicks, based in South Africa.

Ancient lineage, uncertain future

Pangolins have existed for roughly 80 million years, while anatomically modern humans are about 350,000 years old. All eight pangolin species — found across Asia and Africa — are listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as threatened to varying degrees.

The photobook project

Dicks’ image of a Temminck’s pangolin appears on the cover of 10 Years of Remembering Wildlife, the newest volume from the Remembering Wildlife project. Founded in 2015 by photographer Margot Raggett, the initiative produces an annual volume focused on a single endangered animal and donates profits to conservation; it reports having raised more than $1.55 million to date.

Because pangolins are secretive and primarily nocturnal, Remembering Wildlife relaxed its usual rule of including only strictly wild photos: this edition accepts images of pangolins that were released back into the wild and photographs taken in sanctuaries to better represent the species.

Poaching, trafficking and other human threats

Pangolins are the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals, driven largely by demand for meat and for keratin scales used in traditional medicines that lack scientific support. According to reporting cited in the book, more than 136,000 pangolins were illegally traded between 2010 and 2023 in nearly 400 smuggling incidents. China is identified as the largest market; while recent changes to Chinese law and enforcement have reduced some demand for scales, illegal trade remains widespread.

"What makes them particularly vulnerable to poaching is their slow-moving behavior. They do not run away, making them easy to grab by humans," explains Dr. Wendy Panaino, an ecologist who contributed the pangolin section to the book.

Raggett notes that, at current estimated rates of poaching, roughly 1 million pangolins may have been captured during the decade she has produced the Remembering Wildlife series. "When I realized that, I did feel truly terrible. So, I actually apologize to the pangolins for not getting around to them until now," she says.

Human-made hazards extend beyond poaching. "In southern Africa, electrified fences are a huge threat to pangolins, given their defensive habit of curling into a ball when threatened," Dr. Panaino says. "They walk on their hind legs, so electrified wires often contact their belly; then they curl and can suffer repeated electrocution."

Capturing elusive subjects

Dicks photographed his cover image at night in Sabi Sands, a private reserve adjacent to South Africa’s Kruger National Park. "In 17 years of guiding, I’ve only seen about 15 of them," he says. "It just kind of always felt like a photograph of a pangolin was out of reach. I was lucky that one came out of a burrow and crossed the road as we drove by."

Gaps in data and reporting, a recent IUCN assessment notes, hamper conservation planning for pangolins. Both Raggett and Dicks hope the photobook will raise public awareness and drive support for research and protection measures.

"A lot of people who go on safari for the first time have never heard of a pangolin," Dicks says. "If we can create photographs people can connect with, that makes a huge difference."

Raggett adds: "People have to love something to want to protect it. Many readers tell me they’d never heard of pangolins until we announced this book — and that shows we’re reaching new audiences with a species that desperately needs attention."

For more information: the Remembering Wildlife book supports conservation work and raises funds for organizations working to protect pangolins and their habitats. Readers can visit the Remembering Wildlife website or partner conservation groups to learn how to help.