Pangolin

The pangolin – also known as the steppe pangolin – is somewhat reminiscent of a giant pine cone on short legs with its shape and scale armor.

Characteristics

What do pangolins look like?

At first glance, a pangolin could be mistaken for a reptile: its scale-covered body and long, thin tongue are truly unusual for a mammal. The pangolin has a strong, streamlined body. Depending on their age, the animals measure 30 to 67 centimeters from the snout to the buttocks, plus the 37 to 59 centimeter-long tail. Depending on their size, they weigh between three and 17 kilograms. Male pangolins weigh almost twice as much as females.

The most striking feature is the scale armor. It extends from the head, down the back and sides to the outside of the legs and even covers the entire tail. The individual dark brown to yellow-grey colored scales are wider than long and get bigger towards the end of the body. The scales are made of keratin. This is the horny substance that makes up our hair and fingernails. The tail, which is completely covered with scales, distinguishes the ground-dwelling pangolin from the pangolin species that also live on trees: the tip of the tail is free of scales. Only on the belly does the pangolin have no scales, here the brown skin is covered by short brown hair. The head of the animals is three-and-a-half to nine centimeters long and goes straight into the body without a neck. The nose is darker or the same color as the body.

The eyes are small, outer ears are absent, but the large ear openings, often covered with hair, are visible. Pangolins have no teeth, just a very long, thin tongue. They have an excellent sense of smell. The four legs are short, the front legs only reach 60 percent of the length of the hind legs. All legs have five toes with powerful claws. The most striking is the curved, sharp claws on the middle toes of the front legs: They are five to six centimeters long.

Where do pangolins live?

The pangolin is native to eastern and southern Africa and has the largest range of any African pangolin. Its homeland extends over many parts of the country: Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Chad, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, and East Africa.

The pangolin lives in savannas, in bushy grasslands, and also in open forests. It feels comfortable in flooded areas and in rocky terrain up to 1700 meters. And even on agricultural land, it occurs.

What types of pangolins are there?

The pangolin belongs to the pangolin family. These form their own order in the animal kingdom and have no close relatives. Pangolins are only found in Africa and Asia. They are not related to the armadillos of America, with which they are sometimes confused.

There are three genera in the pangolin family: Manis (Asian pangolins), Phataginus (arboreal pangolins in Africa), and the genus Smutsia, which includes the pangolin (Smutsia temminckii). Its closest relative is the giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea). This lives in West and Central Africa.

How old do pangolins get?

It is not yet known how old pangolins can get in the wild.

Behave

How do pangolins live?

Pangolins are solitary and mostly ground-dwelling, but they are also good swimmers. They usually only walk on their hind legs. The head swings back and forth, the tail serves as a counterweight to the front body and the head. The animals usually only use their front legs to support themselves slightly. It is believed that this saves them the sharp claws they need for digging. However, pangolins cannot dig as well as other pangolins. They don’t dig their own caves in the ground to sleep and rest but use the burrows of other animals, such as those of aardvarks and jumping hares.

Pangolins only wake up in the evening and then search for food until midnight. Only juveniles can be observed in the afternoon. They are probably out this early to avoid nocturnal predators. Since their scale armor is not yet as hard as that of the older animals, they are much more vulnerable to their enemies.

Adult animals usually stay in a fixed area for years. These areas are called action areas and not territories like other animals since pangolins do not actively defend their territory. However, they mark their territory by lightly digging up the ground with their claws and marking with urine. Then they roll in the loosened soil. This is how they set more scent marks when they wander through the undergrowth.

Friends and foes of the pangolin

Predators such as lions, leopards, and hyenas. Sometimes they also fall prey to a honey badger or a crocodile. When threatened, the animals roll themselves into a ball by sticking their heads through their hind legs. The head is protected by the tail. Because their scales are very hard and sharp, it is then difficult for predators to get at their prey.

A far greater danger, however, is people. Pangolins are heavily hunted in their homeland: on the one hand, the meat is coveted as a delicacy, on the other hand, traditional medicine men still use the scales and other body parts to cure diseases. In East and Southeast Asia, the scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

How do pangolins reproduce?

During mating, which lasts about 30 minutes, males and females intertwine their long tails. After a gestation period of about 140 days, a young is born – only very rarely twins. The baby is 15 to 18 centimeters long at birth, weighs between 340 and 425 grams, and is suckled by the mother. The eyes are open, the scales are soft, and only become harder after a few days. The little one spends the first weeks of life under construction. When the mother changes den, the young riders on the mother’s tail. When threatened, the mother rolls around her young.

After four to five weeks, the little one begins to eat solid food but is also suckled. It leaves the burrow alone and feeds in the immediate vicinity. Gradually, his excursions get bigger and bigger. At the age of four months, the mother stops nursing the young. At the age of one year, a pangolin weighs about 3.5 kilograms and is no longer carried by its mother. When the young animals are old enough, they move around and look for their own territory. They cover many kilometers in just a few days.

How do pangolins communicate?

Pangolins communicate with each other primarily via scent marks that they place in their areas. When threatened, they sometimes make growling noises.

Care

What do pangolins eat?

The pangolin has a very specific diet: it mainly feeds on ants and termites. Depending on the region, the animals have very specific preferences, which means they only eat very specific types of ants and termites. Pangolins usually eat the larvae and eggs of ants and termites, rarely adults. In search of food, pangolins walk along the ground with their heads lowered. If they smell ants or termites, they dig about four to three inches deep or break open the termite mounds to get to their prey and pick it up with their long, sticky tongue. Pangolins use water sources to drink or they dig small holes in which rainwater collects.

Husbandry of pangolins

Since pangolins have very specific nutritional requirements, they can hardly be kept in zoos. The pangolin is on the Red List of Threatened Species. Stocks are declining sharply. On the one hand, this is because the animals are hunted and poached very intensively, on the other hand, because of electric fences that protect wildlife farms and grazing animals and in which the pangolins die. The species is now protected by the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species, and trading in the animals or their body parts, such as scales, is prohibited.