Hari Raya Aidilfitri
This festival marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and is renowned for its emphasis on faith, family, generosity, and community.
In April, Hari Raya Aidilfitri was celebrated with the same enthusiasm and devotion in Batu Puteh, DGFC’s nearest village, where our kind and generous neighbours once again invited our staff, students and visitors to join them in celebration.
A Surprise Recapture
Around 2am, everyone was called to the main building of the field center because a field assistant had successfully captured a pangolin.
This pangolin had been scurrying along the main path. Once the pangolin was transferred to the laboratory, we put on our personal protective equipment and prepared to collect samples from it. The first step was to measure its body weight. After that, we proceeded to gather various samples, including hair, fecal matter, blood, and ectoparasites. We noticed that the pangolin had a few ticks under its scales, so we plucked a couple for sampling.
Once we had collected the necessary samples, we moved on to tagging the pangolin. Initially, we scanned it to check if it had a microchip from a previous capture. To our surprise, it did, and it turned out to be our previous pangolin, Galak! We retagged Galak and released him outside the center so he could return to one of the nearby sleeping sites. One advantage of retagging pangolins is the ability to compare their body scores from previous captures. When we capture a pangolin, we assess its condition on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating the worst and 5 indicating the best. By comparing these scores across captures, we can evaluate how well a pangolin is adapting to its environment and whether this has any impact on its behaviour.
When we capture a pangolin, we assess its condition on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating the worst and 5 indicating the best. By comparing these scores across captures, we can evaluate how well a pangolin is adapting to its environment and whether this has any impact on its behaviour.
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