White-bellied Pangolin

Fascinating facts about the White-bellied Pangolin

• At just 33-43 cm (13-17 in) from head to body and a tail that stretches another 49-62 cm (19-24 in), the white-bellied pangolin fits on a kitchen counter yet can coil into a ball as thick as a rolled-up yoga mat. Its armor of dark brown to brownish-yellow scales, each tipped with three points, covers every inch except the belly, snout, eyes, ears and limb undersides. These keratin plates are anchored to the skin like human fingernails, giving the animal a flexible yet impenetrable shield that lets it survive predators and human hunters alike.
• A nocturnal, semiarboreal hunter, the white-bellied pangolin can walk on all fours or upright on its hind legs, using its prehensile tail for balance while it climbs trees even when branches are sparse. When it walks on all fours, it tucks its long curved claws under its front knuckles to keep them sharp, then digs into ant and termite nests with those same claws, pulling up up to 150-200 g (5-7 oz) of insects each day with a 10- to 27-in (250- to 700-mm) sticky tongue that hangs from the end of its sternum.
• Females guard tiny territories under 4 ha (less than 10 acres) that rarely overlap, while males roam up to 24 ha (60 acres), overlapping many female ranges. After a 150-day gestation, a single newborn clings to its mother's tail, unable to walk, and stays with her for five months, nursing for three before weaning. The newborn's scales are soft at birth, hardening within days.
• Despite being the most common African forest pangolin in bushmeat markets, its numbers have slumped 20-25 % between 1993 and 2008, three pangolin generations, driven by relentless hunting for meat and traditional medicine. Conservation assessments have upgraded its risk status from "Least Concern" in 1996 to "Endangered" by 2019.
• Living from Guinea across West Africa to the edges of Kenya and Tanzania, the white-bellied pangolin thrives in lowland tropical moist forests, both primary and secondary, and even in savanna-forest mosaics. It can adapt to altered landscapes, using abandoned oil-palm trees and cultivated fallow land where hunting pressure is lower.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the White-bellied Pangolin

In the scorching savannas and forests of sub-Saharan Africa, the White-bellied Pangolin emerges under the cover of darkness, its unique, armor-plated form undulating as it moves with a curious, almost serpentine gait. As it roots through the underbrush, its long, sticky tongue darts in and out, gathering ants and termites with an insatiable hunger, while its scales glisten like polished stone in the faint moonlight. This enigmatic creature, with its singular appearance and habits, is a true marvel of evolution, its very existence a testament to the incredible diversity of life on our planet.

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