Pangolin
To see pictures of animals click the blue dot..The pangolin has a long, tapering body that is almost completely covered with overlapping scales. This covering provides nearly impenetrable protection when the pangolin curls up. This solitary, nocturnal animal lives on a diet of ants and termites that it digs up with its powerful forefeet and extracts with its long, sticky tongue. Shy and protective toward their young, all seven species are becoming extremely rare as a result of hunting.
Habitat: Of the four species of pangolin that live in Africa, two inhabit the trees and two live on the ground. The larger, ground-living pangolins inhabit both open grassland and forests. The ground-burrowing giant pangolin can be six feet long, head to tail. The two smaller species that live in trees in Africa’s rainforests curl up to sleep in the fork of a branch or lie among the plants. They have prehensile (capable of grasping) tails to help them climb.
Habits: A pangolin walks on its front knuckles
with its claws tucked underneath like a clenched fist. This prevents the
digging claws from wearing down. If necessary, the pangolin can move much
faster, rearing up and walking on its hind legs and using its tail for
balance. The pangolin rushes for its burrow if disturbed, or it rolls up
into a ball if it cannot reach safety in time. Its scales protect its soft
belly. The pangolin can also raise the scales in defense so that their
sharp edges point outward.
The pangolin marks its range by scattering feces
along its track and by marking trees with urine or a secretion from a gland
near its anus. It also squirts the foul-smelling fluid at enemies.
Food and Feeding: Ants and termites are the pangolin’s favorite foods. The pangolin has no teeth. In many ways it is similar to the anteater of South America: both animals have a long, saliva-coated tongue that penetrates insect nests and a tough stomach to grind down the hard outer skeletons of termites. A ground-living pangolin sniffs out an ant or ground termite nest and rips it open with long, sharp claws. The pangolin relies on its thick skin to defend it from ant bites. For total protection, its nostrils can seal up. Its eyes are small and thickly lidded. The long-tailed tree-living species feeds on ant nests and tree termite nests, or the armies of ants moving on the trees. It is the only pangolin that feeds mostly by day.
Breeding: The female pangolin produces one or two young each year. The baby tree-living pangolin clings to its mother’s tail after birth. She carries it until it is weaned three months later. A ground-living baby is born inside the burrow. Its scales are soft at first, hardening later. It rides on its mother’s back at two to four weeks. When threatened, the mother curls up with the young hidden inside her rolled up body.
Pangolin and Man: Pangolin meat is popular with local African people, particularly the flesh of the Cape pangolin. In Asia, where relatives of the African species live, the scales are powdered and used for medicine and as an aphrodisiac (love potion). This has lead to reduced pangolin populations. A ban on commercial trade in all pangolin species is not always easy to enforce.
Key Facts: Sizes, Breeding, Lifestyle, and
Related Species:
Sizes:
Length: Body and tail up to 5 ft.
Weight: 50-75 lb. Male heavier than female
Breeding:
Sexual maturity: 2 years
Gestation: 140 days
Birth: November to March
No. of young: 1; rarely 2
Lifestyle:
Habit: Usually solitary
Diet: Ants and termites; other soft-bodied
insects and larvae
Lifespan: At least 13 years in captivity
(Indian pangolin)
Related Species: The Asian species are the Indian pangolin, Manis crassicaudata, The Chinese pangolin, M. pentadactyla, and the Malayan pangolin, M. javanica
Distribution: African pangolins range from Senegal east to Uganda, Angola, western Kenya, and south to Zambia and northern Mozambique, Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, to Namibia and South Africa
Conservation: The Cape pangolin is now seriously endangered. Asian pangolins are hunted although international trade of all species is restricted. Few thrive in captivity.
The African Pangolins:
Tree-dwelling species: Agile climbers, aided
by prehensile (gripping) tail that has a bare sensory pad at its tip.
Ground-living species: Live in holes dug in the
ground. Walk on knuckles with claws pointed inward. May also climb trees.
Long-tailed tree pangolin, Manis tetradactyla:
Feeds by day and by night.
White-bellied pangolin, Manis tricuspis: Forages
by night in rainforests and plantations. Common.
Giant pangolin, Manis gigantea: Forages on the
ground, usually at night. Like most pangolins is also capable of climbing.
Cape pangolin, Manis temmincki: Lives in a burrow;
capable of swimming and climbing. Favors dry prairie and savannah. Feeds
mainly on ants.
Did You Know:
A ground-living pangolin remains in its burrow
during the day. When inside it seals the entrance with earth, opening it
up again when it comes out to feed at night.
Locals tell of the pangolin’s “ant baths.” It
settles on an ant nest, raises its scales and allows the insects to crawl
underneath. Then it lowers the scales, crushing the ants, and enters the
water, where it raises the scales again and lets the dead ants float out.
The ants may act like a mild abrasive and clean beneath the scales.
A pangolin that has curled itself up is almost
impossible to unroll. Only predators with very powerful jaws, such as hyenas
and larger cats, can do so.
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