Black-bellied pangolin Phataginus tetradactyla documented in Deng Deng National Park, Cameroon, using camera traps

Information on pangolin life history and ecology is becoming increasingly available in African countries through community-based surveys and camera-trapping. However, there is a paucity of information on the largely arboreal black-bellied pangolin Phataginus tetradactyla, which is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. By targeting fallen trees or logs with camera traps we recorded the black-bellied pangolin opportunistically in Deng Deng National Park (East Region, Cameroon), a locality within the presumed distribution of the species within Cameroon. We obtained a low trapping rate of 0.063 events per 100 trap-days and the capture probability was one event recorded over 1,571 trap-days (0.0006 captures per day). Deploying camera traps that focus on fallen trees or logs could be explored as a method for detecting black-bellied pangolins.