Editor’s Note
This article highlights a troubling cycle in the luxury trade, where the decline of one protected species, like the pangolin, simply shifts demand to another—in this case, the arapaima. It underscores how consumer trends can drive wildlife depletion across continents and ecosystems.
Following the disappearance of pangolin leather, saddle makers have turned to the leather of a giant fish from Brazil, a species that could soon face the same decline.
Among mammals, the biggest victims of the illegal trade are pangolins. Typically coveted for their scales, a staggering number of pangolins are killed each year across their range in Africa and Asia.
Pangolins are the only scaled mammals, and this notable distinction has contributed to their status as the world’s most poached mammal. Poachers target pangolins across Asia and Africa primarily for their scales, which are used as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. Studies show that hundreds of thousands of pangolins are killed each year, possibly even millions.
However, according to a new study published in Conservation Science and Practice, the scales of this anteater are not the only element the world covets, and the demand for these animals has not always been concentrated in Asia. Before the year 2000, the United States was among the largest importers of pangolin skins, used to make cowboy boots, belts, or wallets from exotic leather.
Inhabiting the waters of the Amazon basin, the arapaima is one of the largest freshwater fish. It is now threatened by overfishing for its meat and potentially for its skin, which is processed into leather goods for American consumers.
Since 2017, the international trade of all eight pangolin species has been banned. As the study authors note, as pangolins disappeared, American importers replaced their leather with that of the arapaima, a threatened Amazonian fish species that can reach lengths of 2.70 meters. Despite their biological differences, the skins of both species exhibit similar diamond-shaped patterns after tanning.
According to the authors’ warning, if this shift in demand from pangolin leather remains uncontrolled, the overexploitation of arapaima could worsen, given that this fish already faces significant challenges across much of its Amazonian range.
Many conservationists claim that the leather trade has had only a negligible impact on the decline of pangolins and add that it is now unnecessary to focus on it. Pangolin specialist Dan Challender, however, holds a completely different view. This postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the study, states, “I am convinced that the pangolin leather trade truly constituted a threat to the species.”
Quantifying the role played by the leather trade in the historical decline of pangolins is hampered by the lack of reliable data on international trade. Heinrich attempted to fill this gap by examining U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service records concerning legal and illegal trade for the period from 1999 to 2015. According to her estimates, 21,411 pangolins were involved in 163 pangolin skin imports, most of which occurred before the year 2000, when the international community established a zero export quota for Asian pangolins. On the other hand, arapaima trade followed the opposite trend: of the 130 registry entries involving 5,524 arapaima, almost all occurred after 2011, and since that date, the trade in arapaima leather has only intensified.
Over a nine-month period in 2017 and 2018, Heinrich also identified 478 eBay listings offering pangolin and arapaima leather from American saddle makers, most of which even offered international shipping. Based on Heinrich’s visual examination and the saddle makers’ descriptions, over 65% of the listings appeared authentic. Heinrich’s estimates are as follows: 168 listings would involve 476 pangolins and 154 other listings would concern 2,873 arapaima. Three-quarters of the apparently authentic listings posted on eBay violated either the site’s policy regarding pangolin trade, U.S. legislation, international regulations, or simply all three. Unlike pangolins, arapaima can be traded internationally if the associated administrative documents are in order and if their fishing does not harm their population. However, eBay prohibits their international trade.
