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Background Pangolins are trafficked in unsustainable volumes to feed both local and global trade networks for their meat and the medicinal properties of their derivatives, including scales. We focus on a West African country (Benin) to assess the medicinal and spiritual values of pangolins among different ethnic groups and identify the cohort of buyers involved in the pangolin trade and related economic values along the chain, notably from local diasporas. Methods We organised 54 focus groups in villages surrounding occurrence habitats of pangolins across Benin and conducted 35 individual interviews with vendors from five major traditional medicine markets (TMMs). Our questionnaire addressed the different uses of pangolins, the commercial value of pangolin items, the categories of clients and the related selling prices. Results Pangolin meat was strictly consumed as food. Scales, head, bones, tongue, blood, heart and xiphisternum were the items used by local communities as part of medicinal (65% of the focus groups) and spiritual (37%) practices. Scales were the most frequently used item (use value index = 1.56). A total of 42 medicinal and spiritual uses, covering 15 International Classification of Diseases (ICD) categories, were recorded among ethnic groups. The ICD and spiritual categories-based analyses of similarity showed a partial overlapping of ethnozoological knowledge across Benin, although knowledge was significantly influenced by ethnicity and geographic location. The pricing of pangolins both varied with the category of stakeholders (local communities vs. stakeholders of TMMs) and clients (local and West African clients vs. Chinese community) and the type of items sold. The Chinese community was reported to only buy pangolins alive, and average selling prices were 3–8 times higher than those to West African clients. Conclusions Our results confirm that pangolins in Africa are valuable and versatile resources for consumption and medicinal / spiritual practices. The pangolin trade in Benin is based on an endogenous and complex network of actors that now appears influenced by the specific, high-valued demand from the Chinese diaspora. Further investigations are required to assess the growing impact of the Chinese demand on the African wildlife trade.

Illegal trade poses a significant threat to African vultures, particularly in Benin, which stands as the second major hotspot for vultures' trade in West Africa. To address gaps in research on distribution, supplying habitat sources and trade dynamics, we conducted semi‐structured interviews with 150 sellers in traditional medicine markets (TMM) and surveyed 590 local residents in villages surrounding five protected areas. We used a chord diagram to visually represent the frequency of reports of countries involved in the trade, and mapped local ecological knowledge (LEK)‐based geographic distribution of vultures across Benin. Our findings revealed that seven West African countries, as well as Cameroon from Central Africa supplied vulture specimens to TMM. We recorded 491 vultures specimens from various species such as Hooded, white‐headed, white‐backed, Rüppell's, Egyptian, and lappet‐faced vulture. Among the six vulture species recorded in TMM, five were still found in Benin, primarily in the north of the country. Our study provides insights into the supply chain and LEK‐based geographic distribution of vultures in Benin. It highlights the pressing need for further research using conventional methods to study the diversity and distribution of vultures in Benin, as well as concerted and coordinated conservation interventions to support vulture populations in the region.

Background African pangolins are currently experiencing unprecedented levels of harvesting, feeding both local demands and the illegal international trade. So far, the lack of knowledge on the population genetics of African pangolins has hampered any attempts at assessing their demographic status and tracing their trade at the local scale. We conducted a pioneer study on the genetic tracing of the African pangolin trade in the Dahomey Gap (DG). We sequenced and genotyped 189 white-bellied pangolins from 18 forests and 12 wildlife markets using one mitochondrial fragment and 20 microsatellite loci. Results Tree-based assignment procedure showed that the pangolin trade is endemic to the DG region, as it was strictly fed by the the Dahomey Gap lineage (DGL). DGL populations were characterized by low levels of genetic diversity, an overall absence of equilibrium, important inbreeding levels, and lack of geographic structure. We identified a 92–98% decline in DGL effective population size 200–500 ya—concomitant with major political transformations along the ‘Slave Coast’—leading to contemporaneous estimates being inferior to minimum viable population size (< 500). Genetic tracing suggested that wildlife markets from the DG sourced pangolins through the entire DGL range. Our loci provided the necessary power to distinguish among all the genotyped pangolins, tracing the dispatch of a same individual on the markets and within local communities. We developed an approach combining rarefaction analysis of private allele frequencies with cross-validation of observed data that traced five traded pangolins to their forest origin, c. 200–300 km away from the markets. Conclusions Although the genetic toolkit that we designed from traditional markers can prove helpful to trace the illegal trade in pangolins, our tracing ability was limited by the lack of population structure within the DGL. Given the deleterious combination of genetic, demographic, and trade-related factors affecting DGL populations, the conservation status of white-bellied pangolins in the DG should be urgently re-evaluated.

Pangolins are globally threatened by unsustainable hunting for local use and illegal international trade, plus habitat loss. In Benin (West Africa), white‐bellied and giant pangolins have experienced a contraction in their distribution areas and population decline during the last two decades. To better understand the factors underlying declines in these species, we investigated extirpation rates of populations over the last 20 years. Because pangolins are elusive species difficult to monitor by standard methods, the status of populations has been assessed through a local ecological knowledge (LEK) approach. We collected information on persistence or extirpation status of pangolins from 156 localities. A binomial model was built to predict population persistence probability as a function of past and ongoing landscape changes, initial abundance (1998), human pressures, and density of the protected area network. The LEK‐based model was highly accurate (97% correct classification rate) in predicting the presence of white‐bellied pangolin in 52 localities where its presence has been confirmed independently. According to model outputs, persistence probability of pangolins is positively related to distance to main road, initial population abundance, and negatively related to deforestation, shrinkage of favorable habitat, and distance to protected areas. When those factors are controlled for, the white‐bellied pangolin has a higher probability of persistence than the giant pangolin. Even assuming no further habitat change, the distribution area of the white‐bellied pangolin is predicted to keep decreasing against an unavoidable extinction of the giant pangolin in Benin in the next two decades. Besides validating the usefulness of LEK as a population assessment method, this study emphasizes that, despite a demonstrated positive effect of protected areas, the current situation is not sustainable for pangolins and calls for urgent conservation actions to stop or reduce overhunting. Using LEK combined with direct evidence, a binomial model was built to predict population persistence probability as a function of past and ongoing landscape changes, initial abundance (1998), human pressures, and density of the protected areas' network. LEK‐based model was highly efficient (97% of correct classification) in predicting the presence of the white‐bellied pangolin in 52 localities where its presence has been confirmed independently. According to model outputs, persistence probability of pangolins is positively related to distance to main road, initial population abundance, and negatively related to deforestation, shrinkage of favourable habitat, and distance to protected areas.

Background and Research Aims: The bushmeat trade is one of the main drivers of faunal extinction in tropical Africa. We assess the profitability of the bushmeat trade along the commodity chain in southern Benin and study the perceptions of the actors on the profitability of the trade. Methods: Data were collected through direct interviews. A total of 120 bushmeat trade actors were interviewed in southern Benin. Economic and financial indicators were estimated and compared using descriptive statistics. Factors affecting the actors’ perception of wild animal hunting, trading or supply sustainability were assessed using binary logit. Results and discussion: A total of 15 species were traded along the bushmeat commodity chain in southern Benin. During the dry season, hunters’ gross product is higher because of greater hunting effort, and traders earn more commercial margin. Throughout the chain of actors, bushmeat trade profitability is seen as positively affected by the number of hunters per household and the availability of large preys (hunters), household size (sellers) and monthly income (consumers); whereas negative factors affecting profitability are distance from hunting sites (hunters), supply issues (sellers) and the cost of the meat (consumers). Both hunters and consumers see hunting and trade regulation measures as negatively impacting bushmeat profitability. Conclusion and implications for conservation: The perception of profitability by bushmeat commodity chain actors in southern Benin is conditioned by a set of socio-economic factors that should be considered in national conservation policies and development programs to keep bushmeat hunting profitable and sustainable.

We conducted in the Dahomey Gap (DG) a pioneer study on the genetic tracing of the African pangolin trade. We sequenced and genotyped 189 white-bellied pangolins from 18 forests and 12 wildlife markets using one mitochondrial fragment and 20 microsatellites loci. Tree-based assignment procedure showed the ‘endemicity’ of the pangolin trade, as strictly fed by the lineage endemic to the DG (DGL). DGL populations were characterized by low levels of genetic diversity, an overall absence of equilibrium, inbreeding depression and lack of geographic structure. We identified a 92-98% decline in DGL effective population size 200-500 ya –concomitant with major political transformations along the ‘Slave Coast’– leading to contemporaneous estimates inferior to minimum viable population size. Genetic tracing suggested that wildlife markets from the DG sourced through the entire DGL range. Our loci provided the necessary power to distinguish among all the genotyped pangolins, tracing the dispatch of same individuals on the markets and within local communities. We developed an approach combining rarefaction analysis of private allele frequencies and cross-validation with observed data that could trace five traded pangolins to their forest origin, c. 200-300 km away from the markets. Although the genetic toolkit that we designed from traditional markers can prove helpful to trace the pangolin trade, our tracing ability was limited by the lack of population structure within DGL. Given the deleterious combination of genetic, demographic and trade-related factors affecting DGL populations, the conservation status of white-bellied pangolins in the DG should be urgently re-evaluated.