Dataset of distribution, habitats and conservation status of the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) in Sri Lanka

Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) is the only pangolin species present in Sri Lanka. There is no comprehensive assessment of its ecology or conservation status carried out in the Sri Lankan context. The dataset described herein is a compilation of information on the distribution, habitats and conservation status of Indian pangolins in Sri Lanka which is collected from a variety of primary and secondary data sources. All information included in the dataset has been recorded between January 2000 and December 2018. The data on distribution, crimes and rescue activities involving Indian pangolins all over the country were collected from the registries maintained by the Department of Wildlife Conservation, Department of National Zoological Gardens and non governmental organizations committed to the conservation of wildlife in Sri Lanka. Verified records from mass media and reliable field data gathered by the authors and their contact networks were further included in the dataset. The data on the distribution can be analyzed to identify the different habitats of the Indian pangolins and their abundance in different climatic zones. The data on distribution include the recorded area, habitat and approximate GPS coordinates of the recorded locality. The data on crimes involving pangolins was extracted from the offices of the Department of Wildlife Conservation which record the crime, date of crime, approximate GPS coordinates of localities where crimes occurred, nature of the crime and fines/actions taken against the offenders. Data on the rescue events include approximate GPS coordinates of the places where the Indian pangolins were rescued, health conditions at the point of rescue and post rescue status [1].


a b s t r a c t
Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) is the only pangolin species present in Sri Lanka. There is no comprehensive assessment of its ecology or conservation status carried out in the Sri Lankan context. The dataset described herein is a compilation of information on the distribution, habitats and conservation status of Indian pangolins in Sri Lanka which is collected from a variety of primary and secondary data sources. All information included in the dataset has been recorded between January 2000 and December 2018. The data on distribution, crimes and rescue activities involving Indian pangolins all over the country were collected from the registries maintained by the Department of Wildlife Conservation, Department of National Zoological Gardens and non governmental organizations committed to the conservation of wildlife in Sri Lanka. Verified records from mass media and reliable field data gathered by the authors and their contact networks were further included in the dataset. The data on the distribution can be analyzed to identify the different habitats of the Indian pangolins and their abundance in different climatic zones. The data on distribution include the recorded area, habitat and approximate GPS coordinates of the recorded locality. The data on crimes involving pangolins was extracted from the offices of the Department of Wildlife Conservation which record the crime, date of crime, approximate GPS coordinates of localities where crimes occurred, nature of the crime and fines/actions taken against the offenders. Data on the rescue events include approximate GPS

Data description
The dataset described in this article has been used to update the distribution, habitats and conservation status of the Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) in Sri Lanka [1]. Data on the distribution of Indian pangolin include recorded areas, habitats of the species and approximate GPS coordinates of recorded areas throughout Sri Lanka ( Table 1). The recorded habitats were further classified according to the different habitat types as described in the IUCN, habitats classification scheme 2019 (version 3.1). Data on the crimes involving the Indian pangolins consist the nature of crime, date of crime, fines charged from the offenders or the present conditions of the investigations, recorded locality, approximate GPS coordinates of those localities and the DWC office which reports the particular crime related to the Indian pangolin ( Table 2). The nature of crime describes the category of crime which may include the killing of pangolin, possession or selling flesh, possession of scales and other body parts or nonpurposive kills due to human activities. Data on the rescue records related to the Indian Pangolins include the locality where the rescue event was carried; approximate GPS coordinates of those localities, health conditions of pangolins at the event of rescue and post-rescue status (Table 3).        Table 3 Data on the areas where rescue activities of Indian Pangolins were carried out in Sri Lanka; approximate GPS coordinates of those areas; health conditions at the rescue and post rescue.

Data on the distribution
Data on the distribution (Table 1) include location information gathered by direct and indirect field observations of the research team and location information extracted from rescue and wildlife crime records of the Department of Wildlife Conservation, Sri Lanka.

Data on crime records
Data on crime records involving Indian pangolins (Table 2) include information extracted from registries of DWC offices pertaining to the period January 2000 to December 2018.

Data on rescue records
Data on rescue records of Indian pangolins (Table 3) include information extracted from registries of DWC offices, animal rescue centers and Pinnawala National Zoological Garden, pertaining to the period January 2000 to December 2018.

Experimental design, materials, and methods
Collection of ecological data on nocturnal elusive mammals such as pangolin is difficult due to lower number of records per significant time period [2]. Thus indirect methods such as camera trap surveys, sign surveys and community surveys are often used by researchers [3e5]. Field data gathered by the authors during ecological surveys to determine the abundance [6,7], and habitat utilization of Indian pangolins [5] in the South-west lowland forest and associated landscapes in Sri Lanka (Yagirala: 6 21 0 to 6 26 0 N and 80 08 0 to 80 11 0 E), and two other study locations (Wilpattu: 13 0 to 8 40 0 N and 79 50 0 to 80 10 0 E and Yala: 6 18 0 to 6 42 0 N and 81 24e81 43 0 E) from August 2013 to December 2018 were used as primary data on pangolin recordings. We collected data on the distribution, rescue and wildlife crimes involving Indian pangolins from January 2000 to December 2018 to update the distribution and conservation status of Manis crassicaudata in Sri Lanka. Indian pangolin is the only pangolin species in Sri Lanka [8] and it has a wide distribution from coastal areas to central hills [7]. The data on the distribution, habitats, crimes and rescue activities involving this species are dispersed throughout the country. Hence, an island-wide data collection method from multiple sources was employed for a comprehensive assessment. Owing to the elusive nature of the animal, locals are less aware about the Indian pangolin [9]. Thus, relying only on community surveys to gather data on distribution can generate biased information. Therefore, to obtain more accurate information, the data was collected from the registries of government and nongovernmental stake holder institutions committed to the conservation of wildlife. The data records from the mass media such as newspapers, web, television and radio were also included to the respective data sets after verifying with responsible authorities. The data on crime records in Table 2 was collected from the offense records maintained by the beet/range/national Park/regional offices of the DWC. The records on rescue activities in Table 3 was collected from the rescue records maintained by the aforesaid offices of DWC and animal health care centers managed by both DWC and nongovernmental organizations. Further, data from the rescue registry of Pinnawala National Zoological Garden, Sri Lanka, was also added to data on rescue activities because it is directly involved in the rescue of pangolins from its surrounding areas. The data on the distribution in Table 1 was produced by combining the data of both rescue and crime activities as well as the verified data collected from field and mass media records involving pangolins.