15/12/2025
FACTS ABOUT PANGOLINS
Pangolins are unique, scaly mammals, the only ones with protective keratin scales (like fingernails) covering their bodies, using long, sticky tongues to eat up to 70 million ants/termites yearly, rolling into balls for defense, and facing severe threats from poaching for their meat and scales, making them the world's most trafficked mammal.
Key Characteristics:
1. Scaly Mammals:
They are mammals, not reptiles, covered in large, overlapping keratin scales that make up about 20% of their weight.
2. Diet:
Insectivores, they eat ants and termites (myrmecophagous), using powerful claws to dig and extremely long, sticky tongues (which can be longer than their body) to lap up insects.
3. Defense:
When threatened, they curl into a tight, armored ball, also emitting a foul, skunk-like odor from glands.
4. No Teeth:
They lack teeth and instead swallow small stones and sand to help grind food in their muscular stomachs.
5. Nocturnal & Solitary:
Mostly active at night and live alone, though some species are arboreal (tree-dwelling).
