Abstract: The Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), a Class I protected species in China, faces critical endangerment due to anthropogenic pressures, habitat degradation, and climate change. Except for Taiwan, the distribution range of Chinese pangolins in China has significantly decreased. The Chinese pangolin’s suitable habitats are shaped by an intricate interplay of factors including vegetation, human activity, climate, and topography. Chinese pangolins are an enigmatic, nocturnal species and possess modest home ranges and subsist primarily on a diet of termites and ants. Their burrowing behavior alters soil structure, enhances forest habitat heterogeneity, and provides additional resources for sympatric species, making them important ecosystem engineers in forest ecosystems. While ex-situ conservation through artificial breeding serves as a crucial complement to in-situ efforts, it presents critical challenges, including low survival rates of rescued individuals, enhanced disease susceptibility, difficulties in formulating appropriate artificial diets, poor sperm quality, and low offspring viability. The primary threats to Chinese pangolins encompass poaching, habitat fragmentation and loss, limited genetic dispersal, and the risk of extinction due to critically small populations. To address these multifaceted challenges, comprehensive conservation strategies need to be developed meticulously, such as bolstering law enforcement, advancing scientific research, safeguarding habitats, refining artificial breeding techniques, enhancing public awareness and education, and fostering international collaboration. Through the concerted implementation of these conservation measures, it is anticipated that the conservation scenario for Chinese pangolins will improve significantly, potentially leading to a gradual recovery of its population size.

Key words: Manis pentadactyla, Population and distribution, Ecosystem engineer, Artificial breeding, Conservation strategy

摘要： 中华穿山甲 (Manis pentadactyla) 为国家一级重点保护野生动物。由于人为干扰、栖息地丧失和气候变化等因素，中华穿山甲野外种群数量急剧下降，被列为极度濒危物种。我国除台湾地区外，中华穿山甲的分布范围已大幅缩减，其适宜生境受植被、人类干扰、气候、地形地貌等多种因素影响。中华穿山甲营穴居，夜行性，家域较小，主要以白蚁和蚂蚁为食，通过挖掘而改变土壤的垂直结构，增加森林生境的异质性，为共栖物种提供了重要的洞穴资源，在森林中发挥了“生态系统工程师”的重要角色。人工繁育是就地保护的重要补充，中华穿山甲的救护和人工繁育面临诸多挑战，主要表现为救护成活率低，易患病，人工饲料不适合，精子品质差和后代个体存活率较低等。目前，中华穿山甲面临的主要威胁包括栖息地丧失、极小种群灭绝危机和种群扩散受限，其保护策略包括加强法律执行、科学研究、栖息地保护、人工繁育、公众教育和国际合作，通过这些措施，中华穿山甲的保护前景能够得到改善，种群规模有望逐步恢复。

关键词: 中华穿山甲, 种群分布, 生态系统工程师, 人工繁育, 保护策略