Pangolins are often called walking pinecones or artichokes with legs, and it's easy to see why. These shy, nocturnal mammals from Africa and Asia are the only mammals wholly covered in scales, and their strange, gentle appearance has made them beloved among wildlife enthusiasts worldwide.
Sadly, pangolins are also believed to be the most trafficked mammals on the planet. Let's explore what makes these armored insect-eaters so extraordinary, and why protecting them matters.
There are eight known species of pangolin: four native to Asia (Indian, Chinese, Sunda, and Philippine pangolins) and four native to Africa (Temminck's ground, white-bellied, black-bellied, and giant ground pangolins).
Pangolins are the only mammals entirely covered in scales, which are made of keratin, the same protein found in human hair and fingernails.
Pangolins are insectivores that feed almost exclusively on ants and termites, which they slurp up with an extremely long, sticky tongue.
A pangolin's tongue can be longer than its head and body combined; it attaches near the pelvis and last ribs rather than the back of the mouth, and retracts into a sheath in the chest cavity when not in use.
Pangolins have no teeth. Instead, they grind up food using small stones and keratinized spines in a muscular stomach chamber.
Pangolins are widely considered the most trafficked wild mammals in the world, hunted illegally for their scales (used in traditional medicine) and meat (eaten as a delicacy in some regions).
Most pangolin species are nocturnal and solitary, spending daylight hours curled up in burrows or hollow trees before foraging alone at night.
When threatened, a pangolin rolls into a tight, armored ball, using its sharp-edged scales as a shield. This defense works well against lions and leopards, but does nothing to stop human poachers.
Female pangolins typically give birth to a single offspring per year, after a gestation period that ranges from roughly 70 to about 140 days depending on the species.
All eight pangolin species are listed on the IUCN Red List, with statuses ranging from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered; the Chinese and Sunda pangolins are the most severely threatened.
A single pangolin can eat up to 70 million insects in a year, making them an important natural check on ant and termite populations.
Pangolins are excellent diggers, using their strong front claws to excavate burrows and break open termite mounds; some species are also skilled climbers that use a prehensile tail.
In some African and Asian cultures, pangolins appear in folklore and traditional beliefs, sometimes as symbols of protection or good fortune, though this cultural reverence hasn't stopped the trade in their scales.
International trade in all pangolin species has been banned since 2016 under CITES Appendix I, though illegal trafficking continues to be a major conservation challenge.
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