Environment News

Status of Himalayan pangolin

July 9 , 2026 12 hrs 0 min 39 0

Himalayan pangolin was confirmed as a distinct species.
It was earlier classified as subspecies of Chinese pangolin.
Himalayan pangolin (Manis aurita) is a distinct extant species, separate from the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla).
The species’ distribution is restricted to the southern Himalayan foothills, with confirmed populations in Nepal, South Tibet, and Northeast India, including the state of Assam.
The major landscape features, such as the Brahmaputra drainage and the Arakan Mountains, acted as “synergistic filters”.
All eight currently recognized pangolin species were transferred to CITES Appendix I.
Thereby it is prohibiting international commercial trade in those named taxa and their parts under the Convention.