Pangolin hunting in Southeast Nigeria is motivated more by local meat consumption than international demand for scales

Thousands of species are threatened by overexploitation, often driven by a complex interplay of local and global demand for various products—a dynamic frequently overlooked in wildlife trade policies. African pangolins, regarded as the world’s most trafficked wild mammals, are a heavily exploited group for different reasons across geographic scales. However, it remains unclear how far the burgeoning trafficking of their scales to Asia for medicine drives their exploitation compared with local meat demand. Here, using data collected from questionnaires distributed to 809 hunters and meat vendors in Nigeria, the world’s biggest hub for pangolin trafficking, we show that targeted pangolin hunts are uncommon in the country’s largest pangolin stronghold. Instead, 97% of pangolins are captured opportunistically or during general hunting, with 98% of these caught for meat and mostly either eaten by hunters (71%) or traded locally (27%), potentially due to the meat’s exceptionally high palatability. Meanwhile, around 70% of scales are discarded, with less than 30% sold. In addition, local meat prices are three to four times higher than those for scales. Our findings highlight the need to consider entire wildlife trade chains in international policies.