A study on the individual preferences in the prey selection of Temminck’s Ground Pangolins (Smutsia temminckii) in the bushveld of Limpopo

Due to a high demand for their scales and meat for use in traditional medicine, the fabrication of leather products, and the consumption as bushmeat, pangolins have become the most trafficked animals in the world. On the IUCN Red List, they are classified as threatened, and their population continues to decline because of poaching and habitat destruction. In addition, attempts at in situ conservation of these animals are challenging as their mortality rates are high and captive breeding programmes are rarely successful, due to these animals’ high susceptibility to stress-related disorders, insufficient knowledge about their husbandry requirements, and their specialised myrmecophagous diet, which is difficult to provide in captivity. Pangolins feed exclusively on ants and termites, and studies about their foraging behaviour and feeding preferences are still limited. To investigate whether there are individual preferences in the selection of their prey, the feeding behaviour of three Temminck’s Ground Pangolins (Smutsia temminckii), living at the Umoya Khulula Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, was observed. For this purpose, faecal samples were collected over the course of six weeks, dirt material was separated from the exoskeletons of digested ants and termites, and the proportions of the diet constituted by each of the 7 species of ants and 2 species of termites found in this region, were calculated. This paper describes the methods developed to process the faecal samples to obtain the ant and termite exoskeletons and analyses whether differences can be found in the composition of the diet of the three pangolins that could hint at individual preferences in the selection of their food. The results show that there seem to be no significant preferences in the prey selection of these three pangolins, although the distribution of ants and termites across the faecal samples differs. The temperature does not affect the dietary composition in this study. The collected data, together with further studies, could be useful for improving husbandry practices of Temminck’s Ground Pangolins and increasing the success rate of rehabilitation and release programmes.