Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka.
IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2018 Nov 7;13(11):e0206082. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206082. eCollection 2018.
The Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) is under threat due to hunting for local consumption and illegal trafficking of scales and meat. The dearth of scientific studies on the ecology of the M. crassicaudata has impaired accurate assessments of its conservation needs. This study investigated the habitat preference and burrow characteristics of M. crassicaudata in a tropical lowland rainforest in southwest Sri Lanka. A total of 75 burrows (54 feeding burrows and 21 resting burrows) of M. crassicaudata in four different habitat types i.e. secondary forest, Pine-dominated forest, rubber cultivations and tea-dominated home gardens bordering forest were observed using fixed-width transects in order to characterize resting and feeding burrows of this species. The highest density of resting burrows was recorded from the secondary forest (4ha-1), followed by rubber cultivations (2.5ha-1) while no resting burrows were recorded in the Pine-dominated forest and the tea-dominated home gardens bordering forest. Feeding burrows were more abundant in the Pine-dominated forest (5.7ha-1). The burrow depth, burrow opening height, and width were significantly larger in resting burrows compared to feeding burrows. Resting burrows were located at higher elevations (75-100m) with moderately high slopes (450-600), dense canopy cover (>75%) and away from human habitation. Feeding burrows showed a greater variability in terms of associated environmental features. The study further revealed that Indian pangolins exclusively prefer habitats with rocks and boulders under which they dig resting burrows while the location of feeding burrows largely overlaps with the distribution of prey species. The resting burrow design consisted of a bending tunnel that initially slopes downward and then gradually inclines at an angle between 20 and 300, leading to the resting chamber. Our study highlights the importance of conserving fragmented secondary natural forests in changing landscapes of the southwest lowlands of Sri Lanka as these habitats appear to be critical to sustaining populations of M. crassicaudata.
印度穿山甲（Manis crassicaudata）因当地消费和非法贩运鳞片和肉而受到威胁。由于缺乏对 M. crassicaudata 生态学的科学研究，对其保护需求的准确评估受到了影响。本研究调查了斯里兰卡西南部热带低地雨林中 M. crassicaudata 的栖息地偏好和洞穴特征。在四种不同的栖息地类型（次生林、松林、橡胶种植园和毗邻森林的茶园）中，共观察到 75 个 M. crassicaudata 的洞穴（54 个觅食洞穴和 21 个休息洞穴），使用固定宽度的样带进行观察，以确定该物种的休息和觅食洞穴的特征。在次生林中记录到的休息洞穴密度最高（4ha-1），其次是橡胶种植园（2.5ha-1），而在松林和毗邻森林的茶园中则没有记录到休息洞穴。在松林中有更多的觅食洞穴（5.7ha-1）。与觅食洞穴相比，休息洞穴的洞穴深度、洞穴开口高度和宽度明显更大。休息洞穴位于较高的海拔（75-100m），坡度适中（450-600），树冠覆盖密度高（>75%），远离人类住区。觅食洞穴在相关环境特征方面表现出更大的可变性。研究进一步表明，印度穿山甲专门喜欢有岩石和巨石的栖息地，在这些栖息地下面它们挖掘休息洞穴，而觅食洞穴的位置与猎物物种的分布有很大的重叠。休息洞穴的设计包括一个弯曲的隧道，最初向下倾斜，然后逐渐倾斜到 20 到 300 之间的角度，通向休息室。我们的研究强调了保护变化景观中西南低地破碎的次生天然林的重要性，因为这些栖息地似乎对维持 M. crassicaudata 的种群至关重要。
