There are 7 different kinds of pangolin, 3 in the warmer parts of Asia and 4 in Africa south of the Sahara. Hunting and habitat destruction have made these strange scaly mammals one of the most endangered groups in the world.
Habitat and distribution (where are they found?)
The Malayan pangolin is found in Thailand, The Philippines, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam as well as Malaysia.
The 4 African pangolins: two live in trees and two live on the ground. The Cape or Ground pangolin is found in parts of east and south Africa . The Giant pangolin is found in Uganda, Tanzania and western Kenya, in grasslands, rainforests and forests but not high in the mountains. These are the biggest pangolins. The two smallest pangolins are also African, and live in trees in rainforests. Their tails are prehensile, meaning they can grab hold of branches.
Body and Diet
Most pangolins are less than one metre long. The Giant pangolin is about one and a half metres long. A pangolin's back and tail are covered with large, overlapping, horny scales.Its belly and chest are covered with soft hair. It has small eyes and hidden ears. Some kinds of pangolin have a tail that is longer than the body.
The pangolin has a pointed snout with a small mouth at the end. It uses its long tongue to eat termites and ants and to drink. The ants and termites that it swallows are crushed by the walls of its stomach and by small pebbles that the pangolin has swallowed.
At the end of its short legs, it has clawed toes that it uses for digging as it searches for ant and termite nests.
Behaviour
The Malayan pangolin climbs trees and hangs from branches by its tail. It is very agile on the ground. Pangolins are active at night, resting during the day among the leaves in the fork of a tree or in a burrow in the ground, often in a termite mound. Cape and Giant pangolins spend more time on the ground, although they can climb trees. As they are shy animals, as well as nocturnal, or active at night, not much is known about pangolins.
Defence
Pangolins can extend their scales, which have very sharp edges. They lash their tails in defence, and can cause serious gashes in an attacker. If attacked some kinds of pangolin can spray a bad-smelling liquid like a skunk does. Pangolins also curl up into a ball as a defence.
Life Cycle
Female pangolins give birth to a single young each year. The young rides on its mother's tail and is protected from danger by being rolled up in her tail when she sleeps.
Defence
The pangolin protects itself by hiding from
enemies and by rolling itself up when threatened. The name 'pangolin' is from the Malay word peng-goling, which means 'one who curls up'.
Pangolin rolled up and sleeping
Conservation status
Most pangolin species are threatened in some way. The Malayan pangolin is classified as endangered. The Cape pangolin is possibly endangered. The Giant pangolin is not endangered. The main danger to pangolins is from humans. It has been hunted by people for its skin for leather, its scales for traditional medicine and body for meat for hundreds of years. Forest clearing causing habitat loss is now an added threat.
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