Hematological and serum biochemical parameters of rescued Sunda pangolins (<i>Manis javanica</i>) in Singapore

Abstract

The Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) population in Southeast Asia faces threats such as poaching and deforestation. Health assessments of rescued individuals including physical examination and blood work are crucial for clinicians to determine the health status of these animals. The establishments of reference intervals of hematology and serum biochemistry are important for identifying clinical abnormalities. The objectives of our study were to establish blood reference intervals for Sunda pangolins, to determine if there are age and sex related differences in hematology and serum biochemistry, and to compare our results with those of a previous study on confiscated Sunda pangolins in Thailand. Fifty-eight Sunda pangolins were rescued between January 2011 and December 2015. The hematology and serum biochemistry results of 51 clinically normal Sunda pangolins were selected for the establishment of the blood reference intervals. No sex related differences were noted in this study. Age-related differences were observed, in which adult Sunda pangolins had a significantly higher mean corpuscular volume than juveniles, and juvenile Sunda pangolins had significantly higher red blood cell counts and hemoglobin levels than those of the adults (P<0.05). Age-related differences were also noted in several serum biochemistry parameters: alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was significantly higher in juveniles, and total protein was significantly higher in adult Sunda pangolins. Compared to a previous study the white blood cell counts, neutrophil counts, and ALP were higher, and the lymphocyte counts were lower in the present study.

Hematology and serum biochemistry of captive Sunda pangolin (<i>Manis javanica</i>) in Wildlife Reserves Singapore

“…The objective of this study is to establish the hematology and serum biochemistry parameters for captive pangolins in Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) and determine if there are sex related differences for these parameters. This study also compares the hematology and serum biochemistry of previous work on the rescued wild Sunda pangolin in Singapore [1].…”

“…Diagnostics such as radiographs and bloodwork are regularly used to assess health status and diagnose disease in unwell pangolins. Blood parameters of Sunda pangolins have been established and conducted for both confiscated and rescued wild Sunda pangolins [1,25]. However, interpretation and use of reference ranges in the wild need to be done with caution as certain blood parameters may be altered due to the diet and stress of capture or restraining of the animal [17].…”

“…They were also fed specially formulated diet consisting of ants, ant eggs, mealworms, insectivore pellets, silkworms, chicken eggs, chitin and calcium powder, and Vitamin B and K, presented in a blended form. Captive Sunda pangolins were categorized as adult animals based on the criteria of previous study by Ahmad et al 2018 [1]. Sunda pangolins were considered adult when their body weight was above 4.0 kg in females and above 6.0 kg in males.…”

“…The laboratory analysis procedure was carried out based on the procedure by Ahmad et al [1]. Hematology and serum biochemistry datasets were studied in separate analyses between male and female Sunda pangolins.…”

“…This study represents an expansion of the work previously conducted on rescued wild Sunda pangolins in Singapore [1]. In this study we compared the hematology and serum biochemistry dataset between the two studies to determine if there are significant differences between rescued wild and captive Sunda pangolins.…”