每年有40万只非洲穿山甲被猎杀取其肉---为什么行动已刻不容缓

Pangolins, a group of unique African and Asian scaly mammals, are considered to be one of the most heavily trafficked wild mammals in the world. They are hunted and traded for their meat, scales, and other body parts, and used as traditional medicines in parts of Africa and Asia.

穿山甲作为一类亚非独有的带鳞哺乳动物，是世界上被最常被走私的野生动物之一。人类捕杀并贩卖穿山甲的肉，鳞和身体上的其他部分，以及在部分亚非地区被人们用作传统的药物。

Of the eight pangolin species, four are found in Africa. These are the white‐bellied, black‐bellied, giant, and Temminck's ground pangolin. Three of these species live in Central African forests. The tree-dwelling white-bellied and black-bellied pangolins, weighing approximately 1.5 to 3kg (comparable to a small rabbit), and the ground-dwelling giant pangolin can weigh up to 33kg (the weight of a small Labrador dog).

在全球八种穿山甲中，有四种穿山甲分布在非洲。这四种穿山甲分别是鳞片白腹穿山甲，长尾穿山甲，大穿山甲和南非穿山甲，其中三种生活在中非的森林中。树栖白腹穿山甲和长尾穿山甲约1.5~3公斤重（重量与一只小兔子相当），地穿山甲属中大穿山甲重量达33千克（相当于一只拉布拉多寻回犬的重量）

But little is known about population sizes, mortality rates, and reproductive potential of African pangolins. Mounting evidence suggests that as the availability of Asian pangolins declines, and international trade flows increase, traders increasingly supply the more abundant and less expensive African pangolins to meet demand.

人类对非洲地区的穿山甲群体数量、死亡率、再生能力还知之甚少。越来越多的证据表明：由于亚洲地区穿山甲数量减少并且国际间贸易增加，走私份子于是通过提供更多数量充足并且价格相对低廉的非洲穿山甲，来满足市场需求。

Seizures of pangolins and their scales and skins from Africa, destined for Asia, are increasing with over 53 tons seized in 2013 alone. These estimates likely represent a fraction of all pangolins traded, and an even smaller portion of the number of pangolins hunted.

在非洲捕杀的穿山甲及其鳞片和皮，被运往亚洲并且缉获量在不断增加，仅在2013年就抓获了53吨。这在全部的穿山甲走私中可能只占一小部分，甚至只是被猎杀的穿山甲总量的冰山一角。

To better understand how many pangolins are hunted in Central Africa each year, I and a team of researchers collated information on the quantities of animals that hunting villages extract from the forest, from studies conducted over the last 20 years. By doing this we can provide crucial information on regional trends which can be used to inform conservation actions and policy.

为了更好统计每年在中非被捕穿山甲的数量，我和一组研究人员在过去20年进行的研究中搜集整理了森林中的动物数量。通过这种做法，我们可以提供关于区域趋势的重要信息，可以为保护行动和政策提供信息。

What we found 我们的发现

We looked into the number of animals hunted in villages and offered for sale by collating data from research and reports that covered over 100 areas in sub-Saharan Africa between 1975 and 2014.

我们通过整理1975年至2014年间覆盖撒哈拉以南非洲地区100多个地区的研究和报告数据，调查了在村庄中屠杀并出售的动物数量。

We extracted information on whether the animal was eaten or sold, how they were hunted, the sex, age category, and price. Other species typically hunted for meat includeblue duikers, brush-tailed porcupines and greater cane rats.

我们提取相关信息关于被猎杀的动物是否被食用或销售；它们如何被捕杀；以及它们的性别，年龄组和售价。另一种典型的成为人们餐桌上美食的包括蓝麂羚，帚尾豪猪和蔗鼠。

For Central African forests in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo, we estimated that at least 400,000 pangolins are hunted annually for meat.

在喀麦隆、中非共和国、赤道几内亚、加蓬、刚果民主共和国和刚果共和国的中非森林中，我们估计每年至少有40万只穿山甲被人们捕来做食物。

But we don't yet know whether pangolins can withstand these levels of hunting. This is mainly because we don't yet have reliable pangolin population estimates for any of the species that inhabit Central African forests. Ideally, we would also need population and hunting data in the same location to be able to understand the levels of hunting that lead to population declines.

但我们还不知道穿山甲是否能够承受人们的这种捕杀程度。这主要是因为我们尚未对居住在中非森林中的任何一种穿山甲种类进行可靠的数量估计。理想情况下，我们还需要同一地点的穿山甲数量和人类狩猎数据，以便能够了解导致穿山甲数量下降的狩猎活动。

Pressures 压力

The pressures on African pangolins are likely increasing for several reasons.

非洲地区穿山甲生存压力可能增大有以下原因：

Firstly, increasing deforestation across West and Central African countries has reduced their habitat, particularly for the semi-arboreal white-bellied pangolin and the arboreal black-bellied pangolin, which rely on forest habitats.

首先，在西部和中部非洲国家不断恶化的森林砍伐使它们失去了栖息地，尤其是居住在森林里的半树栖白腹穿山甲和长尾穿山甲。

As the human populations grow in West, Eastern and Central Africa, this may exacerbate trends in deforestation and wildlife consumption.

随着在西非、东非和中非地区的人口增长，这可能会加剧森林砍伐和野生动植物消费的趋势。

Secondly, increases in the accessibility of remote areas to people and extractive industries may lead to more pangolin hunting. For example, a recent study showed that Asian industry workers in Gabon requested pangolins from hunters more than any other species.

其次，随着人们越来越多的深入偏远地区，以及采掘工业的发展，可能导致更多的穿山甲被猎捕。例如，最近的一项研究表明，加蓬的亚洲工人向猎人们索要的穿山甲数量，比其他任何物种的数量都多。

Finally, the international trafficking of pangolins over the past decade has boomed. They are one of the most trafficked wild mammals in the world. For example, eight tonnes of pangolin scales trafficked from Nigeria, one of the largest ever hauls of scales, was intercepted a couple of weeks ago in Hong Kong.

最后，过去的十年内穿山甲的走私数量激增。这是世界上走私量最多的野生哺乳动物之一。例如，几个星期前，在香港缉获了8吨从尼日利亚贩运来的穿山甲鳞片，这是有史以来缉获的规模最大的交易之一。

Time to act 是时候采取行动了

While the media has greatly increased its coverage of the plight of pangolins in recent years, financial and political support for conservation is still greatly needed. This includes support for pangolin population monitoring, identification of pangolin strongholds and areas in need of conservation, and the identification, design and testing of conservation interventions, where needed.

虽然媒体近年来大大增加了对穿山甲困境的报道，但仍然非常需要财政和政治支持用于保护穿山甲。这包括监测穿山甲数量，确定穿山甲和需要保护的区域，并在必要时确定，制定和试验保护干预措施。

Without these steps we may see the African pangolins follow in the footsteps of their Asian counterparts.

如果还不马上采取有效措施，我们可能会看到，非洲的穿山甲将会重蹈亚洲穿山甲的覆辙。

翻译/陈姜敏

原文链接：

https://phys.org/news/2019-02-african-pangolins-meat-yearwhy.html