The level of illegal trade is astonishing. Between January and September this year (2016), authorities seized more than 18,000 tons of pangolin scales across 19 countries. The majority of these scales came from African pangolins in Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana. Experts estimate that each kilogram of scales requires the killing of three or four animals. It is believed that pangolins make up around 20 % of all illegal trade in species.