Fires landslides floods should be assessed and

fires, landslides, floods) should be assessed and potentially
hazardous areas should be mapped out.
2.12.1 Procedure for the habitat assessment
During the habitat assessment following data/information
should be collected from the field surveys as described in
section 2.2.
± Record the name of tree, herb and shrub species,
± List (if available) with local name, common name and
scientific name, collect and prepare herbarium with
photographs of unidentified vegetation,
± Classify the habitat type of pangolin i.e. Forests (with
tree species as dominant vegetation), Agriculture land
(with cultivated crops), Grassland (with vegetation as
dominant grass) and disturbance regime like grazing,
± Count the number of tree species in each quadrate,
measure DBH and height and calculate density, relative
density, frequency and relative frequency,Estimate
the Important Value of Index (IVI) using the formula
IVI=RD+RF+RDom, (RD=Relative density, RF= Relative
frequency, RDom= Relative dominance), and
± Assess the habitat quality of the species. Run Habitat
Suitability Index Model (HSI-Model).
Figure 12. Use of sniffer dog to detect droppings and burrows of pangolin (Photo credit: Ambika Prasad Khatiwada/NTNC)

14 |
Pangolin Monitoring Guideline for Nepal
Figure 13 . Procedure of transistor setting in Pangolin (Photo credit: Nick Ching -Min Sun, Taiwan)
Box 3. Major variables required for modeling
Proximity Variables
± Distance from the nearest settlement,
± Distance from the main road, and
± Distance from the nearest water resources (river,
tunnel, streams, pond, lake, etc).
Environmental Variables
± Temperature
± Moisture
± Rainfall
± Humidity

Pangolin Monitoring Guideline for Nepal
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2.13 Hotspots Identification
Occurrence of high frequency and density of fresh burrows,
and variables like large area of suitable habitat (e.g.
availability of food and water sources, open land for free
movement, suitable canopy cover and regular occurrence of
pangolins' direct and indirect signs, etc.) are considered to
identify a site as a biological hotspot of pangolins. In addition,
pangolin hotspots can also be identified by assessing the
sites with high and low anthropogenic activities as well as
tracing locations of illegal trade routes and seizure cases.
Hotspots of pangolins can be identified by following methods:
± Published and unpublished literature review,
± Direct and indirect field survey,
± Records in Division Forest Offices, PAs, CFUGs, CIB and
Central Zoo,
± Rescue/confiscation records, and
± MaxEnt modeling, etc.
2.14 Threats Identification
Methods to identify the threat to the species and their
habitats can help to assess types of threats pertaining to the
species in a given area. Following methods can be explored
and used for identifying threats to pangolins.