Missing link in coronavirus jump from bats to humans could be pangolins, not snakes

Date:  March 26, 2020

Source: American Chemical Society  

As scientists scramble to learn more about the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, two recent studies of the virus' genome reached controversial conclusions: namely, that snakes are intermediate hosts of the new virus, and that a key coronavirus protein shares "uncanny similarities" with an HIV-1 protein. Now, a study in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research refutes both ideas and suggests that scaly, anteater-like animals called pangolins are the missing link for SARS-CoV-2 transmission between bats and humans.

Understanding where SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic -- came from and how it spreads is important for its control and treatment. Most experts agree that bats are a natural reservoir of SARS-CoV-2, but an intermediate host was needed for it to jump from bats to humans.

A recent study that analyzed the new virus' genome suggested snakes as this host, despite the fact that coronaviruses are only known to infect mammals and birds. Meanwhile, an unrelated study compared the sequence of the spike protein -- a key protein responsible for getting the virus into mammalian cells -- of the new coronavirus to that of HIV-1, noting unexpected similarities. Although the authors withdrew this preprint manuscript after scientific criticism, it spawned rumors and conspiracy theories that the new coronavirus could have been engineered in a lab. Yang Zhang and colleagues wanted to conduct a more careful and complete analysis of SARS-CoV-2 DNA and protein sequences to resolve these issues.

Compared to the previous studies, the researchers used larger data sets and newer, more accurate bioinformatics methods and databases to analyze the SARS-CoV-2 genome. They found that, in contrast to the claim that four regions of the spike protein were uniquely shared between SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1, the four sequence segments could be found in other viruses, including bat coronavirus.

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Could illegally trafficked pangolins be the missing link in the coronavirus outbreak?

FEBRUARY 10, 2020

by Fauna & Flora International

The deadly coronavirus outbreak, which has killed over 600 people and infected thousands more, may have been transmitted from bats to humans via pangolins, according to new research.

An as-yet-unpublished study by Chinese scientists has pinpointed these endangered scaly anteaters—the world's most trafficked mammal—as "the most likely intermediate host" of the virus.

If verified, the findings could have enormous implications for the future of these endearing and intriguing animals.

With leadership from China, global authorities are working hard to contain the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus. The Chinese government has already imposed a temporary ban on all wildlife trade in Wuhan, effective from 26th January.

In light of the outbreak, state-controlled Chinese media outlets have condemned the practice of wild meat consumption and called for permanent bans on wildlife trade. Thousands of Chinese citizens are reported to be echoing these calls on social media channels.

On 3rd February, the most powerful committee within the Chinese Community Party issued a statement confirming that it will "strengthen market supervision, resolutely ban and severely crack down on illegal wildlife markets and trade, and control major public health risks from the source."

Welcome though this announcement may be, the sad truth is that China is now paying a heavy price for an outbreak that was both predictable and preventable.

In 2002, a strain of coronavirus from wild civets infected humans at a wildlife market in Guangdong province in southern China. The ensuing epidemic of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) resulted in more than 8,000 reported cases across 26 countries, and caused almost 800 deaths.

Continued

More protection needed for Chinese pangolins

By Helen BriggsBBC News

Pangolins should be considered a top priority for conservation in China, with nature reserves set up in key mountain habitats.

That's the message of scientists studying the decline of the scaly mammals in eastern China.

Pangolins, or scaly anteaters, are considered to be the world's most trafficked wild mammal.

Research found numbers had dropped by more than 50% over three decades since the 1970s.

The animals are poached in Asia and Africa for their meat and also for their scales, which are sought after for use in traditional medicine.

Pangolins are now mainly confined to the Wuyi Mountains in northern Fujian province, where many rare and unusual animals are found.

Yang Li, Xiaofeng Luan and Minhao Chen of Beijing Forestry University in China say pangolins deserve more attention from scientists and local people.

"Pangolins have been listed in the list of China's state key protected wild animals as level II," they say. "According to our research and previous research, we suggest that [the] protection level should change into level I."

Continued

Illegal global trade of pangolins

Date:  February 17, 2018

Source:  University of Stirling

Summary:

Animal traffickers are taking advantage of remote ivory trade routes to smuggle pangolins – one of the world’s most endangered animals – out of Central Africa, a new study has found.

Continued 

Jackie Chan joins the fight for endangered pangolins

by Shreya Dasgupta on 1 September 2017

In a video, martial arts action star Jackie Chan urges people to never buy pangolin meat or scale.

"When the buying stops, the killing can too," he says.

Conservationists hope that Chan will help reduce consumption of pangolins by reaching a wider audience across Asia, especially China and Vietnam.

Martial arts superstar Jackie Chan has joined the fight to stop the poaching of the world’s most trafficked mammal — the pangolin or scaly anteater.

Watch video

In a video entitled “Kung Fu Pangolin” released by conservation organizations WildAid and The Nature Conservancy, Jackie Chan tries to teach pangolins kung fu to protect themselves from poachers and urges people to never buy pangolin meat or scale. “When the buying stops, the killing can too,” he says.

Read on

New safeguards agreed for world's most trafficked mammal

By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, Johannesburg

28 September 2016

A little known species driven to the edge of extinction by poaching has gained extra protection at the Cites meeting in South Africa.

Pangolins are slow moving, nocturnal creatures found across Asia and Africa but over a million have been taken from the wild in the last decade.

The trade is being driven principally by demand for their scales, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Now the Cites meeting has agreed to ban all trade in eight species of Pangolin.
 

Scales of destruction
As the world's only mammal covered in scales, these species are sometimes known as scaly anteaters. The creatures have very long, sticky tongues. These come in very handy when searching for ants, their favourite food

However these scales, which the animal uses for protection, are one of the key reasons for their demise.

In traditional Chinese medicine they are dried and roasted and used for a variety of ailments including excessive nervousness, hysterical crying, palsy and to aid lactation.

As well as the scales, the meat of the Pangolin is eaten as bush meat in many parts of Africa and in China it has become something of a delicacy.

The level of illegal trade is astonishing. Between January and September this year, authorities seized more than 18,000 tonnes of Pangolin scales across 19 countries.

The majority of these scales came from African pangolins in Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana. Experts estimate that each kilogramme of scales requires the killing of three or four animals. It is believed that pangolins make up around 20% of all illegal trade in species.


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Indonesia seizes hundreds of frozen pangolins

Authorities find more than 650 critically endangered pangolins hidden in freezers in Java

Agence France-Presse

Friday 26 August 201610.44 BST

Indonesian authorities have seized more than 650 critically endangered pangolins found hidden in freezers and arrested a man for allegedly breaking wildlife protection laws, police said on Friday.

Police discovered the pangolins, known as “scaly anteaters”, when they raided a house in Jombang district on the main island of Java after local residents became suspicious about the large number of freezers in the property.

A total of 657 pangolins, which are consumed as a luxury dish in China and used in traditional medicine, were found wrapped in plastic and stored in five large freezers, East Java province police spokesman Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono told AFP.

The house owner, a 55-year-old man whose identity was not disclosed, was arrested and has been named a suspect, a step in the Indonesian legal system meaning that authorities believe they have enough evidence to consider filing charges.

He could face five years in prison and a fine of 100m rupiah ($7,500) for breaking wildlife protection laws.

“The suspect insisted the Pangolins were not his, a friend asked him to store the animals because he has freezers,” Yuwono said, adding the friend named by the suspect was also being sought.

The suspect, who was arrested during the police raid on 15 August, insisted he had not sold any of the pangolins and refused to tell police where they were to be sent, the spokesman said.

Pangolins are sought after in China and other parts of Asia for their meat, skin and scales. The meat is considered a delicacy, while the skin and scales are used in traditional medicine and to make fashion items such as make boots and shoes.

Protection group the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the pangolin species found in Indonesia as critically endangered.

Source  

Pangolins, the World's Most Trafficked Mammals, Move Closer to U.S. Endangered Species Act Protection

Washington, D.C. -- Responding to a scientific petition by conservation groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today said Endangered Species Act protections may be warranted for seven species of pangolin, one of the most sought-after and poached wild animals in the world. With more than 1,100,000 pangolins estimated to have been trafficked globally from 2006 through 2015, Born Free USA, the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society International (HSI), The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) petitioned to protect the species in July 2015.

Following today's preliminary positive finding on the petition, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will now invite information from scientists and the public about the pangolins' status and threats to determine whether an Endangered listing would be appropriate.

"This is an important first step in the fight to protect pangolins," said Jeff Flocken, North American Regional Director for IFAW. "Pangolins have been silently killed and trafficked for far too long. It's time to recognize the grave situation threatening the survival of the species and offer them the protections they rightfully deserve."

Continued ...

94 pangolins released in Sumatra following huge illegal wildlife seizure

Trafficked pangolins are freed as Indonesian ministers urged harsher penalties to deter illegal wildlife trade, reports Mongabay

Ayat S. Karokaro for Mongabay, part of the Guardian Environment Network

Tuesday 5 May 2015 11.51 BSTLast modified on Tuesday 5 May 201512.09 BST

Following a major seizure of illegal wildlife goods in North Sumatra, the Indonesian authorities released 94 pangolins into the wild last week, including a newborn whose mother died shortly after the authorities caught up with the traffickers.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya flew to the provincial capital of Medan to witness the burning of five tons of pangolin meat which had been confiscated along with 77 kilograms (169 pounds) of pangolin scales and the live animals.

The minister urged judges to hand down harsher punishments to serve as a deterrent.

“In Palembang (the capital of Jambi province), the prosecutor demanded the maximum penalty of five years and Rp500 million ($38,000),” she said. “We expect the same for this network in Medan.”

At present, offenders get an average of eight months behind bars and Rp10 million. “That’s the reason illegal wildlife networks stay in business,” said Irma Hermawati, a legal advisor from the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society.

Read more ...

Thai authorities rescue 150 Pangolins destined for traditional medicine

The Thai Army, the Black Rangers, has rescued 150 Pangolins being smuggled from Myanmar to China, via Thailand.

This is the biggest yet seizure of live Pangolins in the city of Chiang Mai, with an estimated value of 3m Thai Baht.

The Pangolin is primarily illegally traded for its scales, which are believed to have strong medical benefits in Traditional Chinese Medicine, although the young are made into soup.

However, no medical evidence exists supporting these beliefs although tens of thousands of Pangolins are cruelly poached in the wild and traded illegally.

World Animal Protection works with the Thai government to improve welfare conditions for wild animals seized in the crackdown against the illegal wildlife trade. 

Am Last, Thailand’s World Animal Protection Country Director, says: “Pangolins belong in the wild, not in medicine. The trade in these amazing animals is a serious threat to their survival.

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Rescued pangolins sold to restaurants

Leya Musa / 23 hours ago

When police from the northern province of Vietnam intercepted poachers and rescued 42 pangolins it might be safe to assume that eventually those pangolins would be released back into the wild. However once the pangolins were handed over to forest officials the officials decided to sell them to local restaurants.

Conservationists from Education for Nature-Vietnam have been angered by the decision of the forestry department and accuse the officials of effectively supporting the trade in endangered animals. Even if, as claimed by officials, the pangolins were in such a poor condition they would likely die, selling them to restaurants should not have been contemplated.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung, deputy director of Education for Nature-Vietnam, called the decision a failure to deter the wildlife trade and that the pangolins should not have been treated purely as evidence and then traded commercially.

Bac Ninh’s Forest Management Department head, Le Van Minh, said that everything was done within the law. The animals were not in a fit condition to be released back into the wild and the law allows authorities and registered traders to undertake commercial activities with pangolins.

Read more ...

Pangolin 'Medicine' Trade Leading to Rapid Extinction

By Chris Newman, University of Oxford; David Macdonald, University of Oxford, and Youbing Zhou, Chinese Academy of Sciences | November 09, 2014 06:15pm ET

This article was originally published on The Conversation. The publication contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Few people are familiar with. It is a shy creature, about as big as a medium-sized dog, and its diet consists of ants and termites. Most distinctively, it has armoured plates and will curl into a ball to resist predators. The eight different species of pangolin live across most of Africa, India, southern China and Southeast Asia.

Despite their recognition as an endangered species and the supposed protection that brings, pangolin are now the most trafficked wild mammal species in the world. Their scales have been used for millennia in Asian medicine. When roasted, they are alleged to detoxify and drain pus, relieve palsy, and stimulate lactation. The animals are either traded alive (involving appalling cruelty) or killed and their scales removed to meet culinary and medicinal demand in East and Southeast Asia.

Read more ...

No place to hide for Africa's pangolins amid China buying spree

By Emma Farge and Gerauds Obangome

DAKAR/LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Alongside dirt roads twisting through the dense tropical forests of Gabon, the scaly bodies of lifeless long-snouted pangolins dangle from sticks stuck in the ground by hunters.

The pangolin, a mammal that looks like an anteater but has the tough scales of a crocodile, has long been prized in central Africa as a bushmeat delicacy.

But growing demand for it from Asia, where pangolin scales are used in Chinese medicine to help women lactate and to cure skin disorders, now threatens to hasten its demise and rob African countries of a precious resource.

Conservationists say the demand boom is due to declining wild populations in Asia as well as high numbers of Chinese workers in Africa's resource and timber sectors, located in remote regions of the continent's interior.

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Police find 39 pangolins packed into car

Posted by: Leya Musa / 14 hours ago

Police in Guangxi province of China were suspicious of a car that looked heavier than it should be and discovered 39 pangolins packed into a compartment in the back of the vehicle.

On Janauary 24th port officials in Fangcheng had their suspicions raised when a car carrying 2 people appeared to have fake licence plates. The police followed the car and then overtook it and braked sharply as they came to a toll barrier. The car though appeared to take longer to stop than it should and the way the car slowed down concerned the police as it appeared to be heavier than it should for just 2 passengers.

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Protected frozen anteaters found on Chinese boat near Tubbataha Reef

THE Philippine coast guard says it has found hundreds of frozen scaly anteaters, or pangolins, in the cargo hold of a Chinese boat that ran aground in a protected marine sanctuary last week.

Wildlife officials have been informed of the surprising discovery, which could lead to more charges for the 12 Chinese men arrested on charges including poaching after their boat was stranded in Tubbataha Reef last week.

"We found 400 boxes containing anteaters aboard the vessel, and we are now determining where these came from," coast guard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo told AFP.

He could not say whether the pangolins were frozen alive, or had already been butchered as meat.

A protected species, pangolins are widely hunted in parts of Asia for their meat, skin and scales. In China, they are known as a delicacy and are purported to have medicinal qualities.

Continued:  http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/protected-anteaters-found-on-chinese-boat/story-fnd134gw-1226620870348

Boat filled with endangered meat hits coral reef

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Chinese vessel that ran into a protected coral reef in the southwestern Philippines held evidence of even more environmental destruction inside: more than 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) of meat from an endangered species, the pangolin or scaly anteater.

The vessel hit an atoll on April 8 at the Tubbataha National Marine Park, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. Coast guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo said Monday that 400 boxes of frozen pangolin meat were discovered during a second inspection of the boat on Saturday.

The marine park's lawyer, Adelina Villena, says the boat's 12 Chinese crewmen are being detained on charges of poaching and attempted bribery.

The meat and scales of the pangolin fetch hundreds of dollars per kilogram in China, where many believe they cure various ailments.

http://news.yahoo.com/boat-filled-endangered-meat-hits-coral-reef-080228778.html;_ylt=AgbVa2veXRZ_f2hRKdOy_FHtiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTNxZmNtdDRuBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBPZGRVU1NGBHBrZwNkZDMwMmY1OS1hNGYyLTMwOWQtODk3Yy0wZDY0NmI0MTJhNjMEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3RvcF9zdG9yeQR2ZXIDZjI5NTFlMDAtYTVhMi0xMWUyLWI4NzMtYTZjYzc4OWQ2MTEy;_ylg=X3oDMTJhcjVnNjQ4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lfG9kZARwdANzZWN0aW9ucwR0ZXN0A040VV9ob21lcnVuYXBp;_ylv=3

Four tiger cubs found hidden in a car in Vietnam

119 pangolins seized in the haul

September 2012. Police in Vietnam found four live tiger cubs and 119 pangolins hidden on September 4. Two men who were in the car were arrested.

It is not known where the tigers or the pangolins came from, but there are thought to be fewer than 30 wild tigers left in Vietnam. A recent WWF report ranked Vietnam as the worst country for worldwide conservation. The burgeoning economy combined with some old beliefs, organised crime and corruption, has meant that Vietnam has become the driver of much huge amounts of wildlife crime. Having exterminated all of its own rhinos recently, demand from Vietnam is believed to be behind the recent huge surge in rhino poaching in Africa.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/vietnam-tigers.html

Ancient Termite-Digging Creature Added to Mammal Family Tree

A new look at a fossil mammal with powerful front legs for digging is clearing up questions about the origin of a group of strange and scaly modern-day creatures called pangolins.

First excavated in Mongolia in the 1970s, the fossil sat in storage for decades until researchers for the Russian Academy of Sciences rediscovered and analyzed it, reporting their results today (Aug. 27) in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 

What they found was a dog-size, strong-shouldered digger called Ernanodon. This mammal lived about 57 million years ago, after dinosaurs had died out and our furry ancestors had taken over. Ernanodon was known from one other fossil found in China, but that specimen is warped, and some archaeologists even thought it might be a fake.

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/22700-termite-digging-mammal-discovered.html

111 pangolins seized on a boat off Sumatra

Indonesia foils pangolin smuggling attempt
October 2011. Marine police in North Sumatra have seized over a hundred pangolins and arrested three men who were en route to Malaysia with the animals.

The Sunda Pangolins, hidden in 20 gunny sacks, were found in a boat seized in waters off Belawan. The smugglers were believed to have left from Pantai Cermin, a popular holiday beach resort near Medan.

111 pangolins seized
Head of the Belawan Nature Conservation Agency Joni Pasaribu said authorities found 111 pangolins in the gunny sacks; three had died while two babies were found still alive. The pangolins will be released into the wild as soon as possible, he told TRAFFIC Southeast Asia. The seizure is the latest in a number of foiled attempts to smuggle pangolins out of Indonesia.

Huge seizure in May
Just one week ago, authorities disposed off a massive shipment of dead pangolins and scales that was confiscated by Indonesian Customs at the Belawan International Container Terminal in May this year.

The 5.9 tonnes of pangolin meat (representing 1,795 individuals) and 790 kg of scales were buried in a landfill in Terjun, Medan. The pangolins were found hidden with several tonnes of snakehead fishChanna spp and Asiatic Softshell Turtle meat Amyda cartilaginea, all bound for Viet Nam, with news reports quoting M. Ranu Subroto SH, Head of the District Prosecutor General's office as saying three local men had been arrested. The suspects were detained for allegedly falsifying shipping documents.

Also in May this year, Indonesian Customs discovered another Viet Nam bound shipment of pangolin meat and scales totalling 7.5 tonnes, at the Tanjung Priok Port in north Jakarta.

On 10th July, Customs officers at Jakarta's Sukarno-Hatta Airport seized a shipment of 1,732 kg of pangolin meat and a further 380 kg of pangolin scales.

Protected species
Pangolins in Asia are protected species in all range states and international trade is not permitted under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

"Sumatra remains a major source of pangolins and other wildlife entering the global illegal black market," said Chris R. Shepherd, Deputy Regional Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.

"The number of pangolins falling victim to this trade has reached ridiculous levels. There is no way quantities like these will leave wild populations unaffected.

"While the seizures and arrests are an important part of the fight against the illegal trade, Sumatra's authorities need to do much more to get at the heart of this problem. They must find the warehouses, break the smuggling networks and put the kingpins in jail," he said.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/sumatra-pangolin.html