Beastfile · Mammals

Pangolin

Pholidota

Also known as Scaly Anteater

The only mammal covered in scales, and the most trafficked one on Earth.

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Overview

A pangolin is a mammal wearing armor made of the same protein as your fingernails. Its overlapping keratin scales cover everything but the face and belly, and when threatened it rolls into a ball so tight that big cats generally give up. It has no teeth at all. Instead it tears open ant and termite nests with heavy front claws and collects insects on a tongue that, in the largest species, is longer than its own body and anchors near the pelvis rather than in the mouth. Eight species survive, four in Africa and four in Asia.

A pangolin with its scaled tail curled beside its body

Origin

Sub-Saharan Africa and across South and Southeast Asia, from savannah and open woodland to tropical forest, with some species largely arboreal and others burrowing.

Habitat

Forest

Notable Traits

•The only mammals with true keratin scales
•Rolls into a sphere so tight most predators cannot open it
•A tongue longer than its body, anchored near the pelvis
•No teeth; swallows small stones that grind food in the stomach
•Closes its nostrils and ears while feeding to keep ants out

Conservation

All eight species are threatened, several critically. Pangolins are widely described as the most trafficked wild mammal in the world, taken for their scales and meat, and international commercial trade has been banned under CITES since 2017.