“Pangolins are the only mammals covered in scales.”
Pangolins are nocturnal mammals covered in keratin scales. They eat ants and termites with long sticky tongues and roll into balls when threatened. All eight species are heavily poached.
By An Nguyen · Published · Updated
Manis javanicaPholidotaManidae
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Core article
A closer look at habitat, diet, behavior, reproduction, and conservation.
Pangolins are the only mammals covered head to tail in scales — overlapping plates of keratin that turn the animal into a living pinecone. Eight species survive, four in Asia and four in Africa, and all eat almost nothing but ants and termites, hunting by smell in the dark. They are also the most trafficked wild mammals on Earth. This page focuses on the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica), but most traits apply across the group. Pangolins are often called "scaly anteaters," though they are not close relatives of the South American giant anteater.
A pangolin's scales are made of keratin, the same protein as human fingernails, and cover the back, tail, and outer limbs; a newborn's soft scales harden within days. The defence they enable is simple and famous: threatened, a pangolin rolls into a tight ball so only the armoured surface is exposed, and some species also lash out with the sharp-scaled tail. Against a leopard or python this works well. Against a human it fails completely — a poacher simply picks up the balled animal — which is the tragedy at the centre of the pangolin's story. Genetically pangolins sit near the carnivores but form their own order, Pholidota, with no close living relatives, and their scaled, toothless, ant-eating body plan has changed little in tens of millions of years.
Pangolins occur across Asia and Africa wherever ants and termites are common. The Sunda pangolin ranges through lowland and hill forest from Myanmar and Thailand through Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, while African species occupy everything from rainforest to dry savanna. All need soil or rotting wood where social insects nest. By day pangolins rest in burrows, tree hollows, or thick cover, emerging at dusk and often walking on their hind legs with the front claws held clear of the ground.
Pangolins are specialist insect eaters, and a single animal may take tens of thousands of ants or termites in one night, plus some beetle larvae and bee brood. Having no teeth, a pangolin finds a nest by smell, digs in with powerful front claws, and flicks a tongue that can extend 16 inches or more — longer than its own body — into the tunnels, scooping up insects on sticky saliva. It can seal its nostrils and ears to keep insects out while digging, and swallows prey whole to be ground up in a muscular, stone-filled stomach that works like a bird's gizzard. In doing so, pangolins help keep ant and termite numbers in check.
Pangolins are mostly solitary, their ranges overlapping but their contact limited mainly to breeding, with scent marks on rocks, trees, and burrow mouths signalling presence to others. Because they are shy and nocturnal, biologists still lack basic population figures for most species — what is clear is that trafficking has emptied many forests and grasslands where pangolins once lived.
After a gestation of about four to five months, a female bears one pup — occasionally two — weighing only a few ounces, with soft, pale scales. For the first months the pup rides on the base of the mother's tail as she moves it between resting sites, nursing for three to four months before joining her on foraging trips. Pangolins reproduce slowly, at most one pup a year, which makes recovery from heavy poaching painfully slow. Wild lifespan is poorly known; captive animals have reached about 20 years.
The Sunda pangolin and most Asian species are Critically Endangered, African species range from Vulnerable to Endangered, and all eight are on CITES Appendix I, banning international commercial trade. Poaching for meat and scales is the overwhelming threat. The scales are used in some traditional-medicine markets despite having no proven clinical value — they are keratin, like hair — and habitat loss from logging and farming adds further pressure. Enforcement, demand reduction, and rescue centres in countries such as Vietnam and Nigeria help, but wild numbers keep falling in many regions.
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Pholidota
Family
Manidae
Genus
Manis
Species
M. javanica
Pangolins are the only mammals covered in scales.
A pangolin tongue can extend longer than its body.
Pangolins have no teeth and swallow small stones to grind food.
Eight species exist: four in Asia and four in Africa.
Pangolins can close their nostrils while digging into insect nests.
They are considered the most trafficked mammals in the world.
Select a question to reveal the answer.
A pangolin is a scaly mammal that eats ants and termites. It walks on its hind legs and uses strong front claws to open insect nests.
Pangolins feed almost entirely on ants and termites. They lap up insects with a long sticky tongue and can eat tens of thousands in one night.
Asian pangolins range from India and southern China through Southeast Asia. African pangolins live in forests and savannas south of the Sahara.
Scales are made of keratin, the same protein in human hair and fingernails. They overlap like armor and regrow if damaged.
Illegal hunting for meat and scales is the main threat. Habitat loss and slow reproduction make recovery difficult. All species are protected under CITES Appendix I.
When threatened, a pangolin rolls into a tight ball so only its hard scales are exposed. It may also lash out with its sharp tail scales.
No. Pangolins are mammals. They have fur between their scales, give birth to live young, and nurse pups with milk.
Pangolins use both trees and ground shelters, depending on the species. They rest in burrows, tree hollows, or dense vegetation, then emerge mainly at night to search for ants and termites.
A pangolin usually gives birth to one pup after roughly four to five months of gestation. The pup's soft scales harden soon after birth, and it may ride on its mother's tail while learning to forage.
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