Australia's echidnas are helping to pin-point the trail of international criminal groups engaged in the illegal trafficking of endangered wildlife.

Ecologists in Sydney hope the monotreme could hold the key to cracking who is behind the illegal trade in the critically endangered pangolin.

Native to Africa and Asia, the pangolin — also known as a scaly anteater — is the world's most trafficked mammal, with estimates more than 1 million have been taken from the wild in the past decade.

The echidnas at Sydney's Taronga Zoo are being used to help develop a scientific method to identify where trafficked animals, like the pangolins, were first captured.

"Basically, we need to find out where these animals are coming from," Taronga Zoo animal nutritionist Michelle Shaw said.

"We're trying to give the people monitoring the international trade tools that will help them to catch these traffickers."

Michelle Shaw and her team used stable isotope analysis to study echidna quills for clues to the animal's diet. ( Supplied: Taronga Conservation Society )

Last year, Ms Shaw, alongside researchers at Taronga Zoo and UNSW's Centre for Ecosystem Science, used stable isotope analysis to study echidna quills for clues to the animal's diet.

The chemical record stored in the quills' keratin enabled them to determine where the animal had been living during its life.

Pangolin scales are also made up of keratin, and later this year, Ms Shaw will travel to Vietnam to use the same technique to determine where illegal shipments originated.

"That could potentially be able to map where these animals came from because they are holding a signature in those scales," she said.

"So we can track, hopefully, where they came from geographically."

Echidnas at Sydney's Taronga Zoo are being used to help develop a scientific method to track trafficked animals. ( Supplied: Taronga Zoo )

Pangolins gentle and defenceless

It is this method of analysis that Ms Shaw and her team hope could help ecologists identify trafficking routes and the criminal networks involved in the illegal trade.

In July 2017, 12 tonnes of pangolin scales were seized at a port in China's southern city of Shenzhen, estimated to have been taken from 20,000 to 30,000 slaughtered animals.

Eight different species of pangolin can be found across Africa and Asia and are sometimes called a "modern-day dinosaur" or a "walking pine-cone".

Pangolins are also frequently targeted by wildlife traffickers because their scales and meat are highly sought after in some parts of the world. They are also easily smuggled.

"A lot of times these [illegal] shipments are just 2,000 kilograms of scales. You can imagine how many animals it took to make those shipments," Ms Shaw said.

"They are the most adorable creatures you've ever seen. They look a little bit like an armadillo with a much more delicate face and long nose.

Pangolins are usually small in size, gentle in nature, and have no means to defend themselves other than to curl up in a ball when threatened.

In July 2017, 12 tonnes of pangolin scales were seized at a port in China's southern city of Shenzhen. ( Supplied: WJC )

"They've got a very long tongue, like the echidna, for eating termites and ants and they're covered with spines or scales that are very much like our fingernails," Ms Shaw said.

"Those scales are made of nothing more than keratin. They are very highly prized for medicinal purposes."

Research could help catch traffickers

Ms Shaw will be working with conservation group Save Vietnam's Wildlife on her trip later this year, and is also using her research to develop a new food supply for pangolins.

"With 400 rescue pangolins in one rescue location, they've got a lot of demand for food," she said.

Zoo nutritionist Michelle Shaw is also using her research to develop a new food supply for pangolins. ( Supplied: Save Vietnam's Wildlife )

"I'm helping to develop a diet for them that they might use that would be easier than the natural diet that they're using right now.

"[Save Vietnam's Wildlife currently are] spending US$40,000 a year just to buy ant eggs for their pangolins."

The research could have benefits for echidnas too, potentially helping ecologists to catch wildlife traffickers who falsely claim animals have been bred in captivity, when their keratin signature shows they were caught in the wild.

Taronga Zoo has also been able to develop a special echidna diet to avoid gastro-intestinal problems common to the animals when kept in captivity.

"The information that we're getting from their quills is also helping us to develop a better diet for them and formulate something that will keep them healthy," Ms Shaw said.

"It's the same sort of thing that I'll be trying to develop for the pangolins in Vietnam."