500 Francs CFA Pangolin

Rhodium plating on numismatic silver is a finishing technique borrowed from the jewelry trade, applied here primarily to prevent tarnish and preserve the struck surface detail of what is a notoriously difficult animal to render in relief. The pangolin has become a recurring subject in African wildlife coinage largely because it is now the world's most trafficked mammal — demand from Asian markets for its scales and meat has driven all eight species toward extinction risk, a fact several mints have leveraged for conservation-themed issues since the mid-2010s.

Cameroon hosts both the giant ground pangolin and the white-bellied tree pangolin within its borders.