Anthropogenic Threats to Survival of the Critically Endangered Chinese Pangolins(Manis pentadactyla) and their Habitat in Kavrepalanchowk Nepal Suman Acharya 1* , Santosh Rayamajhi 2 , Sonia Sharma 3 , Suraj Upadhaya 4 , Sanjeev Joshi 5 and Sabhyata Lamichhane 6 1 Adaptation for Smallholders in Hilly Areas, Ministry of Forests and Environment, Kathmandu, Nepal 2 Department of Parks Recreation and Wildlife Management, Institute of Forestry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal 3 District Forest Office, Department of Forest, Kathmandu, Nepal 4 Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, USA 5 School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University, USA 6 Kathmandu Forestry College, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal * Corresponding author: Suman Acharya, Adaptation for Smallholders in Hilly Areas, Ministry of Forests and Environment, Kathmandu, Nepal, Tel: +97-79849015388; E-mail: acharya.suman1994@gmail.com Received date: March 26, 2018, Accepted date: September 05, 2018, Published date: September 08, 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Acharya S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Human activities are the prime reasons that cause the decline of Chinese Pangolins(Manis pentadactyla) throughout the world. Globally, the limited area is managed under protected area while most of the area lies outside protected areas where anthropogenic threats are experienced high. Incessant increase in the threats has lead Pangolins to a high risk of extinction in Nepal. This study was carried between October 2016 to January 2017 in Balthali VDC of Kavrepalanchowk district using semi-structured questionnaire interview (n=117) to assess prevailing anthropogenic threats to Chinese Pangolins habitat. Almost all respondents agreed that human activities are major threats to Pangolins habitat. More than half of the respondents stated that poaching and illegal trade, habitat destruction and haphazard construction and development activities like hotel and road constructions have resulted in reduced Pangolins population. Moreover, intentional human induced forest fire, heavy grazing and a significant increase in the use of chemical insecticides are diminishing the habitat of Chinese pangolins. To secure long-term conservation of Chinese Pangolins their habitat we suggest promotion of public awareness activities. Key Words: Treatened species; Human activities; Treats, Manis pentadactyla Introduction Human activities like hunting and illegal trading [1], deforestation [2], forest fre [3], agriculture accretion [4], traditional beliefs [5], forest fre and grazing are vital reasons for dramatic decline of biodiversity throughout the world [6-8]. Chinese pangolins, like other biodiversity components, are under severe threats due to similar anthropogenic activities [9-12]. Local people usually consider Pangolins as, a bush meat [13,14] and Asians consume Pangolins meat as a delicacy and medicinal importance [15]. Killing of Pangolins due to wrong myths and selling them for their scales is the biggest threat in Kashmir, Pakistan [16]. Te Chinese Pangolins are critically endangered species, which are estimated to have declined by over 90 percent in the past 21 years [9]. Moreover, Pangolins in the present world are considered as most trafcked mammal in the world [17,18]. Pangolins are nocturnal mammals covered in tough, overlapping scales. Tey feed on ants and termites and can roll themselves up into a tight ball quickly for their protection [19]. Among eight species of Pangolins across the globe, two species; Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) and Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) are found in Nepal below 2,000 m elevation [20,21]. Chinese Pangolins are distributed in Eastern, Central and Western Nepal [12,22]. Tey are also found in China, Bhutan, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Bangladesh, Lao, Myanmar, Tailand, Vietnam, besides Nepal [9,23-25]. All species of Pangolins includes Chinese Pangolins, sleep in hollows and logs during day time and emerge out in the evening to forage on ants and termites [19]. Tey have thick and long tail covered with large (2-5 cm diameter), round overlapping scales formed from fused hair, dorsally rounded and ventrally fattened, prehensile and very muscular [26]. Male Chinese Pangolins are are larger than female ones. Te mass of Chinese Pangolins ranges from 2.35 kg (young, sexually matured female) to 7.0 kg (fat male); similarly body length ranges from 545 mm (young female) and 795 mm (male) [27]. Pangolin scales, both whole and in powdered form, are used in traditional Chinese medicines to treat a variety of diseases, including psoriasis, infertility, to improve blood circulation, treat asthma, and even cancer [28]. Large ear pinna, a post-anal depression in the skin and a narrowing near the distal end of the tail helps to distinguish Chinese Pangolins from other Asian Pangolins [29]. Te status of Chinese Pangolins is greatly afected by habitat destruction in the country like Nepal [21], Taiwan [30] and Malaysia [25]. Tere is a signifcant increase in poaching of Pangolins throughout their range countries [15,31,32]. While international trafcking is rising as a major threat to Chinese Pangolins [33], nationally Eastern Nepal [5] and some places of Central Nepal like Bhaktapur and Kavrepalanchowk districts [10] are considered more vulnerable areas to Pangolins trafcking. Similarly, they are reported to be under pressure from habitat destruction, especially by insecticide J o u r n a l o f B i o d i v e r s i t y & E n d a n g e r e d S p e c i e s ISSN: 2332-2543 Journal of Biodiversity & Endangered Species Acharya et al., J Biodivers Endanger Species 2018, 6:3 Research Open Access J Biodivers Endanger Species, an open access journal ISSN: 2332-2543 Volume 6 • Issue 3 • 1000218