Odisha radio-tags rescued Indian pangolin

Tags: State News

• The Odisha Forest and Environment Department has completed its first ­ever radio­tagging of the Indian pangolin using a VHF [very high frequency] radio transmitter.
• It is the State’s first attempt to standardize rehabilitation protocol for the animal
• It was rescued by the Paralakhemundi Forest Division last month, and was radio­tagged and released in the Nandankanan Wildlife Sanctuary, in Bhubaneshwar Odisha.
• Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP), is the only conservation breeding center for Indian pangolins in the world.
• The center was established in 2009 to standardize the protocol for housing and husbandry of endangered species.
• After Madhya Pradesh, Odisha is the second State in the country to release a radio­tagged Indian pangolin into the wild
• The exercise is expected to reveal valuable information on the ecology, dispersal pattern, home range, and survival of the reclusive animal.
• Pangolin is a nocturnal (awake and active at night and asleep during the day) animal that lives in burrows and feeds on ants and termites.
• Indian pangolin is the largest among eight pangolin species. 
• Pangolins are the most illegally traded mammals in the world.