‘Giant’ scaly animal — once feared locally extinct — photographed in Senegal. See it
Obscured by the darkness, a “giant” scaly creature lumbered along a dry riverbed in Senegal. A nearby trail camera snapped a picture — and photographed an animal once feared locally extinct.
The trail camera was part of a large-scale wildlife survey at a sprawling national park in the West African country, according to a study published May 17 in the peer-reviewed African Journal of Ecology.
Researchers from Panthera and the Direction des Parcs Nationaux set up over 200 trail cameras at Niokolo-Koba National Park between February and May 2023, the study said. The survey was focused on large carnivores but ended up documenting 45 mammal species.
One particular animal caught the researchers’ attention.
A camera near a dry riverbed photographed a large scaly animal walking by in the middle of the night on March 8, 2023, the study said. Researchers identified the animal as a giant pangolin.
Giant pangolins, scientifically known as Smutsia gigantea, are an endangered mammal found in central and western Africa, according to an article from the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Pangolin Specialist Group. These scaly animals can weigh up to about 77 pounds and live in burrows.
Giant pangolins were last seen in Senegal in 1999 during a monitoring project at the Niokolo-Koba National Park, the study said. Several more wildlife surveys did not find the species, and it was feared locally extinct.
The recent photograph is the first sighting of the species in Senegal in 24 years, researchers said. The species is likely rare and still threatened by “the unprecedented scale of trafficking.”
Niokolo-Koba National Park is in southeastern Senegal, a country bordering Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, Mali, Mauritania and the Atlantic Ocean.
The research team included Mouhamadou Mody Ndiaye, Marine Drouilly, Abdoul Aziz Senghor, Ousmane Thiaw, Daniel Ingram, Matthew Shirley, Paolo Strampelli, Chele Martinez Marti and Philipp Henschel.
This story was originally published June 7, 2024 at 8:34 AM with the headline "‘Giant’ scaly animal — once feared locally extinct — photographed in Senegal. See it."
