STAR POWER POPS UP FOR PANGOLINS
C hinese pangolins are on the road to recovery, making a comeback thanks to strengthened legal protections and increased conservation measures in the last few years across their native habitat. Now, a high-profile endorsement is helping spread the news and encourage continued public support for this rare mammal. WildAid, a nonprofit working to reduce global demand for endangered wildlife products, has partnered with Chinese pop star and actor Wang Yibo on a new public awareness campaign focused on the Chinese pangolin. They were considered functionally extinct just a few years ago, but recent infrared camera footage reveals growing evidence of a tentative recovery for the species amid research efforts within China. Habitat destruction, poaching, and illegal trade all contributed to the collapse of the species, but with the upgrade in
protection came an increase in efforts to understand pangolins, particularly through research and monitoring. This led to several monitoring projects across their habitat, now delivering surprising footage, revealing an uptick in their numbers in the wild. As part of the campaign, Wang Yibo visited field sites with WildAid to help set up infrared cameras that have provided key behavioural insights by passively documenting the nocturnal animals. The cameras also often capture multiple species interacting in the same areas, underscoring pangolins’ important ecological role. Leveraging Wang Yibo’s massive online following, WildAid created billboards and a public service announcement voiced by the celebrity ambassador. The announcement garnered over 13 million views on Chinese social media platforms in just three
days. The accompanying hashtag #DoNotPurchasePangolinProducts also achieved tremendous engagement with more than 63 million views as Wang Yibo encouraged the public to help pangolins by refusing their use in any traditional medicines or products. Furthermore, 70 000 Weibo bloggers created their own posts about this topic.
With Wang Yibo’s influential support, WildAid hopes more people worldwide will become champions for pangolin recovery. Reducing demand through education, scientific research and law enforcement is the only way to take further pressure off these unique scaly anteaters, giving their populations the best shot at recovery.
Wang Yibo and a pangolin. Credit: WildAid
Y ellowstone National Park management proposed implementing stricter rules to launch certain motorised watercraft on its lakes and rivers. It is to safeguard the ecosystem from the devastating effects of invasive mussels, which have spread across parts of America in recent decades. Under the proposal, boats with enclosed motor compartments like inboard or inboard/outboard watercraft would need to be dry for 30 days before the launch. It includes any boat that has seals or internal ballast systems where mussels could hide. This would kill off any mussels or their larvae that might cling to the boat hull or interior areas after inspection and cleaning failed to remove them. They recently detected zebra and quagga mussels in South Dakota and Idaho waterways within a day’s drive of the park. They intercepted two contaminated boats trying to launch in the past two years alone. As the headwaters of three major river systems, a mussel introduction could affect water bodies far beyond Yellowstone’s boundaries with no effective controls once established. Zebra and quagga mussels are native to Eastern Europe and Western Asia. They have caused ecological and economic damage since invading North America in the late 1980s, transported unintentionally via the ballast water of
ocean-going ships or attached to boats. The mussels reproduce rapidly, attach to hard surfaces, and filter plankton from the water. This disrupts aquatic food webs and crowds out native species. In parts of the Great Lakes region where zebra and quagga mussels have invaded, they now overgrow docks, boats, and water intake pipes. The costs of control and mitigation efforts run into the billions. Power plants and water treatment facilities spend sizable sums keeping mussel-clogged pipes functional. And some fisheries and native mussel populations have collapsed under their proliferation. While Western states have so far remained mussel-free, biologists worry it is only a matter of time before an introduction overwhelms new waters. In 2023, they found quagga mussels in Idaho’s Snake River near Twin Falls - marking their arrival in the Columbia River system, which includes Yellowstone. As one of the largest intact lake systems in the US, Yellowstone Lake would offer abundant habitat for mussels to thrive once established with no natural controls. This would also place the cutthroat trout population at risk. There are no effective eradication methods, and control is costly and environmentally consequential, so prevention is critical.
NEW RULES TAKE AIM AT COSTLY STOWAWAYS
Invasive zebra mussels
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