Re-finding A Giant. World Pangolin Day 2025

For this World Pangolin Day, we’re putting the spotlight on our work with our Field Partners, The Pangolin Project, based in Kenya.

This is a story of resilience, discovery, and what’s made possible when people like you stand up for one of the world’s most endangered mammals.

It’s also a story about a giant pangolin, named Esupat – which means ‘humble one’ in Maa, a language spoken by the Maasai, Samburu, and Datoga across Kenya and Tanzania.

Giant ground pangolins are both rare and secretive in nature. They’re also only found in specific habitat that suits their needs – places with a healthy population of termites and access to water. And even then, giant pangolins need forests that can house their equally giant burrows, which can stretch 40 metres and be as deep as 5 metres underground.

Lost and Found

Esupat was first captured and tagged in an area called Saruni, in March 2024. She was identified as an adult female (females can grow to about 130cm in length – males can reach 140cm). Remarkably, it was her behaviour that led to her name – as she was incredibly calm and easy to handle (at least as handling wild animals goes). Esupat would tolerate the attentions of the rangers and wildlife biologists, then move away a few metres and resume her daily routine. So, a name meaning ‘humble one’ was more than fitting.

Despite the joy of finding a new adult female in the area, it was short lived. Just twelve days later, the tags appeared to fail, and she disappeared. After the significant effort and cost that goes into finding, tracking, and monitoring these incredible animals, as well as factoring in how rare they are and not knowing when you might see another one – you can imagine how anxiety-inducing, upsetting, and frustrating such circumstances can be.

As the long rainy season (known as Masika) marking the early part of the year began to wane, the team luckily connected with Esupat again in June, removing her failed tag and leaving a small hole in her scale, that would eventually make identifying her easier. As the dry season in July began, no news came. In November, a new rainy season (Vuli) arrived and still no news or sightings came. Then, in the middle of the night, on January 7th, a call came through from a member of the community. They were reporting a sighting of a giant pangolin.

Our Field Partners and a wildlife vet rushed to the scene on motorbikes, which made navigating the challenging roads easier and enabled them to get to the location as fast as possible. The livestock keeper who had reported the sighting was still there and had the pangolin in sight. Part of the incredible work made possible by people like you is the reward programme that sees community members who report sightings gifted 5,000 Kenyan shillings (around £30).

As you’ve probably guessed by now, the pangolin they discovered was Esupat. She was easily identified by a distinguishing – a broken scale from an encounter with a wire fence. They also noticed the small hole in the scale where her tag had been, confirming it was indeed Esupat. They carried out an immediate health check and were relieved to find she was in good condition and uninjured.

The Scale of the Problem

Unfortunately, the habitat Esupat calls home – the Nyekweri forest, is shrinking. The location she was found in was well outside what will hopefully be the protected boundary of a 12,000 + acre area currently being negotiated for lease as a de-fenced sanctuary for giant pangolins. Esupat’s new location is outside the initial 12,000-acre area to be leased. She and other Giant Pangolins are highlighting how imperative it is to protect not only individual patches of forest and the initial 12,000+ acres but the entire 24,700-acre habitat that connects them. Whilst her survival is something to be celebrated, her broken scale is a poignant reminder of the dangers pangolins face beyond these protected zones.

It also drives home just how crucial your ongoing support is and how important an impact you can make on the survival of these secretive and endangered animals.

Our Field Partners are working with two community conservancies – Kimintet and Oloirien Forest Trust Conservancy – to protect the area for Esupat through long term lease agreements with landowners. But as Esupat’s rediscovery shows – these animals don’t know where the borders and boundaries lie and can and will travel to areas where the threats of fencing and deforestation are still present. Only with your incredible support can we ensure they and countless other species within their fragile ecosystem will continue to thrive. Please donate today or adopt a pangolin via the link below.

You can support our work to save endangered animals from extinction by adopting today.

Adopt a Pangolin