Of meat and ritual: Consumptive and religious uses of pangolins in Mali

Abstract

In many parts of Africa, wildlife is locally consumed for meat (Ingram et al., 2021). Hunting and consuming wild animals for meat is common in rural areas across the continent, and their bodies are openly sold in markets, along roadsides, and in restaurants or ‘chopbars’ (Eniang et al., 2008; Gonodelé Bi et al., 2017; Ingram et al., 2018). In some places, animal body parts are also used in traditional remedies purported to treat a variety of afflictions or bring good fortune (Bakarr et al., 2001; De Surgy, 1993; Imperato, 1977; Kedzierska & Jouvelet, 2006; Marshall, 1998; Sale, 1981). Wildlife is a fundamental component of ritual practices for some communities, both for consumptive ceremonial uses and as part of remedies (e.g. powders to mix with water and drink or bath with, scrubs, ointments) and/or ritual objects such as power objects or fetishes11 In many African languages, including Mande languages, the same term detonates various remedies and power-objects or fetishes, thus, the frontiers between the two are porous and fluid. In short, the difference lies not in their ingredients but in the modalities of their manipulations: usually the remedies are directly applied to the body whereas fetishes are addressed verbally and receive bloody sacrifices. . Thus, it comes as no surprise that the body parts of wild animals are also sold in traditional ‘medicine’ or ‘fetish’ markets in several West African countries (Bassett, 2003; Hellweg, 2011; Nikolaus, 2011). Wildlife is still openly sold in traditional ‘medicine’ and/or fetish markets in Mali (Kedzierska & Jouvelet, 2006), Côte d'Ivoire (Bassett, 2003), Togo (D’Cruze et al., 2020), Benin (Djagoun et al., 2013), Ghana (Gbogbo & Daniels, 2019) and Nigeria (Nikolaus, 2011). Pangolins are one such group of species that are hunted both for meat and used in a variety of African traditional remedies or ritual practices, with examples available from Nigeria (Eniang et al., 2008; Ogoanah & Omijie, 2017), Benin (Djagoun et al., 2013; Sogbohossou & Kassa, 2016); Togo (D’Cruze et al., 2020), Ghana (Boakye et al., 2016), Côte d'Ivoire (Gonodelé Bi et al., 2017), Liberia (Greengrass, 2016; Jeffrey, 1977), Sierra Leone (Boakye et al., 2014) and the Republic of Guinea (Brugiere & Magassouba, 2009). Three species of pangolin occur in West Africa (IUCN, 2021), which include the two small arboreal species, the white-bellied and black-bellied pangolins (Phataginus tricuspis and Phataginus tetradactyla, respectively), and the fossorial giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea). All three species are largely associated with the Guinean and Guineo-Congolian bioclimatic regions, although they can also be found in the gallery forests and wooded savannah in the Soudanian bioclimatic region (Ingram et al., 2019; Nixon et al., 2019; Pietersen et al., 2019). All species are listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN, 2021), and the commercial and international trade of wild-caught pangolins has been banned (CITES, 2017). While a few studies have now investigated the local uses of pangolins in several West African countries, knowledge on the distribution and local uses of pangolins remains limited in the western-most countries (e.g. Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Sierra Leone), at the periphery of currently reported pangolin distributions. Current pangolin species ranges are delineated on the IUCN Red List by whether the species is known (or thought very likely) to occur in a given area with suitable habitat. Mali borders several pangolin range countries and is currently not listed as a pangolin range state on the IUCN Red List. Here, we review and appraise the evidence for the presence and local uses of pangolins in Mali. Mali is a large African country covering an area of 1.241 million km2, inhabited by the Mande people who in classical ethnographies are divided based on the language spoken into several sub-groups such as the Bamana (largest group), Malinke or Maninka, Sarakole or Soninke, living aside others such as Fulani, Dogon and Senufo also called Minyanka. While the majority of people consider themselves as Muslims nowadays there is a steady and even increasing presence of traditional or a-Islamic religious specialists (Bazin, 2008; Bourdarias, 2009; Colleyn, 2004; Kedzierska & Jouvelet, 2006; Kedzierska Manzon, 2013, 2022; McNaughton, 1988; Soares, 2005, 2016). This vast country spans several bioclimatic zones, with the north-eastern half of Mali largely comprising the Saharien and Sahelian zones. The south-western half of Mali comprises Soudanian vegetation with a strip of Soudano-Guinean vegetation along the southern borders with Senegal, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso. Soudano-Guinean areas typically have extensive plant cover associated with shrublands, woody savannahs and both open and fragmented forests, and in 2010, this region of Mali had 15–20% forest cover (Hansen et al., 2013; Figure 1). In south and south-western Mali, species from Soudanian and Guinean zones can be present. For example, in southern Mali, Granjon and Duplantier (2011) note that in the gallery forest patches, which share botanical similarities to humid Guinean forests, rodent species composition is similar in Mali to that of the Guinean humid forests, particularly in the extreme southeast of the Sikasso region, and in the west Bafing area which is environmentally similar to the Djallon plateau in Guinea. In south-western Mali, near to Bafing Faunal Reserve, the northern limits of Guinean vegetation are also home to the only populations of western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) in Mali (Duvall, 2000). Despite none of the pangolin species being listed as occurring in Mali in any of the IUCN Red List assessments, Warshall (1989) reports that pangolins (scientific name not provided) are on the list of mammals that are protected by Malian law (Annexe II). The Malian 1995 Wildlife Protection Law then lists Manis spp. as completely protected on Annexe I (Loi No. 95–031), which is reiterated in a report from the Malian Ministry of Environment and Sanitation (MEA, 2007). Pangolins (as Manis sp.) are also mentioned in Décret No 95-184/P-RM of 1995 and Décret No 01-136/P-RM of 2001 which set the rates of fees and charges levied in connection with the exploitation of wildlife, which for pangolins refers to fees for hunting a wholly protected species. Given that the Malian Wildlife Law does not identify the species of pangolin, in the following sections, we review the available evidence separated by the species reported. Niagaté and Clark (2004) report that giant pangolins are found in southern Mali (in the south of the Sikasso, Koulikoro and Kayes regions). It is noted that giant pangolins are very rarely encountered and are threatened by habitat degradation and illegal hunting (Niagaté & Clark, 2004) and that they are considered to be ‘near extinction’ in Mali (reported as Manis gigantea, USAID, 2008). Suspected giant pangolin tracks, and a suspected pangolin carcass based on description and discussion with local hunters, were reported in 1996 from an area near the Balinn River in south-western Mali (southern Kayes region), west of the present Wongo National Park (founded in 2002; Duvall & Niagaté, 1997). In 2013, people from 15 villages around Bafing and other nearby protected areas were interviewed about the species present in the local area (southern Kayes region), and people in 14 villages said they knew of giant pangolins, and people in 7 villages reported the species to still be present with the last sighting or sign being in 2013 (Schleicher et al., 2014). In the study area, giant pangolins were considered ‘very rare’, and local names were given, such as Konso Ha, Konso Konso, and Konso Fa. Aardvark were distinguished separately in the study (Kinhon, Timba, Tumba, Kifo and Kihon) and were also reported as known (14/15 villages) and present (13/15) but rare in the area. Communications reported in Zahan (1980) with Richard van Gelder of the American Museum of Natural History at the time state that giant pangolin were also found in Mali, but the location was not mentioned. Evidence from research conducted since 2003 among Mande hunters—known as donsow given they are members of a specific initiation society, donsoton—living in the Kangaba Cercle area of Koulikoro region in southern Mali (bordering Guinea) highlight knowledge of pangolins (pers. comm. to A. Kedzierska Manzon, September 2020 and before during fieldwork). One of the master hunters (today aged 60 and who started hunting activities at the age of 10 with his father who was also a master hunter) compared the pangolin to an antbear (timba; aardvark; Orycteropus afer), in terms of activity pattern, diet and solitary lifestyle, and considered pangolin meat to be a delicacy especially given its elusiveness. The behavioural and morphological details provided by the hunters—size, weight, activity—allow us to identify with no doubts that the species is the giant (and not arboreal) pangolin. This information is corroborated by the accounts of biologist Bruno Sicard, who affirms that giant pangolin was an easy pray for hunters and were therefore overhunted in the past (pers. comm. to A. Kedzierska Manzon, April 2021, account based on the fieldwork conducted in Mali by B. Sicard for the last 40 years). As with the aardvark, the hunters, as well as Bruno Sicard, perceive that the pangolin seems to have completely disappeared from their region of southern Mali in the recent past. Giant pangolins have been reported to occur in similar habitats and at similar latitudes in countries bordering Mali. In Senegal, giant pangolins are known to occur in the Niokolo-Koba National Park which is comprised of gallery forests and savannah habitat near the border with south-western Mali (Dupuy, 1971; Nixon et al., 2019). Giant pangolins have been reported from the Basse-Casamance National Park in Senegal (IUCN/UNEP, 1987, cited in Sayer et al., 1992; Gueye, 1991) which has the predominant habitat types of Guinean forests and savannah woodlands. In Guinea, bordering Mali to the south, the predicted range of giant pangolins span most of the country and has been confirmed in the National Park of Upper Niger (Ziegler et al., 2002), and hunted by villages in the buffer zone (Brugiere & Magassouba, 2009; Duonamou et al., 2021), which has a similar latitude to the far south of Mali. At a similar latitude, giant pangolins were thought to occur in the complex of Pendjari and W National Parks that span northern Benin, south-eastern Burkina Faso and the extreme south of Niger (Nixon et al., 2019; Poche, 1973; Sayer & Green, 1984). It should therefore come as no surprise that there were (or still are) giant pangolins present in Mali. Both species of arboreal pangolin are reported to be present in the vicinity of Bafing National Park, near to the northern border of Guinea (AGEFORE, 2004; Caspary et al., 1998). Caspary et al. (1998) report that P. tricuspis is known as Kossokassa in Bamanan, while P. tetradactyla is known as Kossokassa-ning and that both species occur in the park. The meat was reported as less popular than other bushmeat species, and not commercialised. Schleicher et al. (2014) dispute the presence of the arboreal pangolin species (Phataginus sp.) in this region claimed by Caspary et al. (1998) and AGEFORE (2004), highlighting that Niagaté and Clark (2004) only report giant pangolin (which they also refer to as Kosso-kassa in Bamanankan) and that the ecological and biogeographic conditions are more likely suited to giant pangolin, but note that further research is needed. To the east of Bafing, in the Cercle of Kita, the southern area bordering Guinea was heavily forested (1960–70s), and informants in this region at the time stated that pangolins (N’gossonkassan) there climbed trees (P. Imperato pers. comm. to D.J. Ingram May 2021). Zahan (1980) in his study of Bamana initiation societies (see section below) in the Wasulu area of south-western Mali (mostly overlapping the Sikasso region, and parts of the Koulikoro region) states that the Bamana informants referred to ‘the other type of timba’ (aardvark) that was capable of climbing trees (referred to as n'goso). While Zahan had never seen a pangolin, letters from Pascal James Imperato stated that he had seen a pangolin in Mali (species unknown). The sighting occurred in the Cercle of Yanfolila near the Sankarani River in the Sikasso Region, and at the time, it was confirmed as a pangolin by Mons. Marcher, the Director of the Bamako Zoological Gardens (P. Imperato pers. comm to D.J. Ingram May 2021). Zahan also reports that in a letter to his colleague, Solange de Ganay, Imperato stated that he had spoken with Richard Van Gelder who was the Curator of Mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History who reportedly said that both Manis tricuspis and Manis gigantea were present in Mali (letter dated January 29, 1976). In the Sikasso region of southern Mali, Edwards (2012) reported that one agriculturalist and hunter he interviewed for his ethnographic research living in a small village near the border with Côte d'Ivoire had caught a juvenile tree pangolin in 2007, but it is not clear which species this refers to. It is possible that this refers to Phataginus species of pangolin, as both species are reported to occur in northern Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana (IUCN, Figure 1). pangolins in are known to occur at similar latitudes in northern Benin et al., 2020), forest in Togo et al., and in the areas in and northern Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea (Ziegler et al., we found that the same (and their have been used for giant and arboreal we language to between pangolin species. It is possible that (and cited refers to giant pangolin and is also the term for given its in to both arboreal et al., 1998; and giant pangolin (Kedzierska Manzon, Niagaté & language both and as and to giant pangolin, the species as ‘very et al., 2011). (2011) the following for the of which pangolin the to the and from the giant pangolin. Imperato states that pangolin gigantea or Manis is known in as Caspary et al. (1998) refer to Kossokassa-ning for black-bellied we that the of this refer to a in for but this is not and we found no other this on the and of wildlife in Mali is limited to few In the of rural in Mali reportedly from wild and in the Wasulu area of southern Mali, of hunted and consumed bushmeat cited in The Ministry of and the Environment reported that in some areas hunting was by to of the meat and of which the The same report a that the from bushmeat in Bamako was million but the time for this was not bushmeat is still consumed in the Sikasso region, and West found that bushmeat was consumed on but not the species that are to the recent (Kedzierska Manzon, based on research conducted between and bushmeat is consumed by in south-western Mali at a and even more during the it is still a of species are consumed and and more rarely as well as less and (see list in Kedzierska Manzon, last species are in the & Kedzierska Manzon, The of species which are hunted and including pangolin, is confirmed by other Duvall pers. comm. 2021, B. Sicard pers. comm. and 2021). In the region Bafing Faunal Reserve, Caspary et al. (1998) also states that pangolins were locally consumed for In recent with hunters living in the Kangaba Cercle area of Koulikoro region in southern Mali (bordering a master hunter reported or of hunters the of their who have hunted pangolin, and one reported a pangolin as a his father on a into the (pers. comm. to A. Kedzierska Manzon, September This with the of Malian who reported that donsow hunters knew of the pangolin and considered the animal given the of the animal As with the of other or animals (e.g. the pangolin is considered to be it is and to be (e.g. with a the his or who the meat Pangolins which referred to as were reported to be rarely seen by the hunters and were distinguished from In the it was reported that of in the had been with from wild animals at in their West and and American such to or as a sign of and to the trade in animal parts in examples of body parts are used to treat a variety of or for ritual are provided (e.g. and and include pangolin to or species are This was corroborated in by a traditional hunter based east of Bafing Faunal Reserve, who also stated that pangolin is the to the (pers. comm. In the Malian there is a traditional called the or also referred to as the or the a variety of species of are sold as ingredients for in traditional remedies and ritual practices Edwards list that the and of Manis spp. were available on the as by both the study and Malian in the pangolin (P. with still were also available in the in and that pangolins are used in traditional and religious in Mali, of whether pangolin species occur in Mali or are not the only as and are also from ethnographic the in Edwards (2012) that species such as P. tetradactyla are used in types of traditional remedies from of and to of For example, pangolin be used in for various conditions and while are used in to with such as and (pers. Edwards animal including the and of pangolins (pers. Edwards are used in the of or power objects or fetishes study of Colleyn, 2004; 2008; Kedzierska Manzon, 2013; Kedzierska Manzon, 2016; For example, it seems that a of the Malian National had a power in which a pangolin was the other and and was used to others to the of the National (pers. Edwards The of pangolins were also used in power objects that were to the to (pers. Edwards In pangolin parts be used in to or usually as a of For pangolin were used in a to a for his the of the was to the for his in his (pers. Edwards This is corroborated by evidence from two and in it is that pangolin and other parts were reportedly available from traditional across southern Mali, and local hunters stated that they be found knew to (pers. The of pangolin parts in the of objects or is also confirmed by the evidence at In southern Mali, donsow hunters report that pangolin and still used in the of the (or or which which to or good of other (pers. comm. to A. Kedzierska Manzon, September The hunters report that is also used in the local including in the purported of or in a to and Aardvark and reportedly be used in similar and we that this be of species are in that they are and have a also be a to the home and therefore (see To the of communities, an of known as the to rural to and species to such as Bamako there are rural hunters as well as who and animals and/or body parts to of the his ethnographic Edwards (2012) a who was also a wildlife from the Sikasso region of Mali, to their village to the of of the animal part The in a small village near the d'Ivoire and in 2007, sold a arboreal pangolin (Phataginus sp.) that he had with a along with that he had on his This section is an of the given that the to ritual known as or in Mali, but we on than of animal body In the the Mande were well known for their initiation societies (e.g. & One of called to and and (e.g. the of and 2003; In the is to the a wild or to more a who is considered to have to As part of the are which typically to animals aardvark, that are based on as for (e.g. to the of and are into account the that in of the Three were in Zahan (1980) as in the south-eastern region, in Bamako region) and from the Wasulu and Zahan (1980) reports the of a pangolin to be Manis as well as an aardvark, in many from the area Koulikoro and Sikasso bordering Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso. The to an at the a pangolin on its and of the on In some the are by or along the The pangolin is to the of the from the region (in this both in terms of its in the and the of the Zahan that the of the white-bellied pangolin, being both and as this species was that the pangolin was into as an of and present the review of the and more than likely presence of pangolins in Mali. evidence that black-bellied pangolin were at available in the fetish in the in also present reports of possible ritual of pangolins the and of pangolins for meat and in the of traditional remedies and power as well as more in ritual and religious It is not clear to uses and given and in Mali. as remedies have been used for a time in the traditional remedies to be particularly given the recent in traditional in Mali (Kedzierska Manzon, as in other countries of the region such as Ghana 2004) and Burkina Faso & 2019). Evidence in this review the past 60 highlighting the and practices associated with pangolins such practices associated with other species that we and is in part of traditional and ritual practices, is as species and practices are between on the variety of and that it is likely that the giant pangolin or at occurred very in south-western Mali (southern Kayes and Koulikoro and in other parts of the Soudano-Guinean bioclimatic region in the south of Mali It is also likely that at one species of arboreal pangolin in southern Mali region) and in the south of Kayes This an of the known range of at two pangolin species into Mali, compared to that on the IUCN Red List. species of are considered to be or in Mali to and habitat particularly from for and 2008). and are to wildlife in Mali, which also be by we that are to the presence and distribution of pangolins in southern and western Mali, the of their presence and in are to identify pangolin and the that pangolins in Mali. to Pascal Imperato, Bruno Sicard, and for this are also to and other master hunters who provided with is by the and Wildlife to and the rural and traditional of Mali for their fieldwork was by and the The no of is not to this as no were or in this

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