What is a pangolin? Curiosities and things to know about the most smuggled mammal in the world

The pangolin is the only living mammal covered by scales, is at risk of extinction and is highly threatened by man.

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

History of the pangolin, the only living mammal covered in scales that is now highly threatened by man

A tender name that sounds like a brioscina, but a shell worthy of an armadillo: the pangolin is actually a mammal much closer to an anteater, capable as it is of eating 2 and a half ounces of ants in a day. Protected by the Washington International Convention, the pangolin it is the only living mammal covered by scales, it is at risk of extinction and is strongly threatened by man. But what is it that we don't know about the most smuggled mammal in the world?

Well, its meat is commercialized and its flakes, for one thing, are used in traditional medicine: in China and Vietnam they are believed to be effective against rheumatism and eczema and even against cancer.

Given the small size of the pangolin, trafficking can take place "wholesale": in October 2015, customs officials in Guangdong, southern China, seized a shipment of 414 boxes containing 2.764 frozen carcasses (Source)

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What is the pangolin?

What is a pangolin? Curiosities and things to know about the most smuggled mammal in the world

Source

Toothless and with a tongue as long as the body, territorial, solitary and mostly nocturnal, i pangolin (genus Manis, Linnaeus), also known as scaly anteaters, are the only living mammals to represent the separate order of Pholidots.

The genus includes these species:

Manis culionensis - Philippine pangolin
Giant manis - giant pangolino
Manis temminckii - pangolino di Temminck
Manis tricuspis - tricuspid pangolin or tree pangolin
Manis tetradactyla - long-tailed pangolin
Manis crassicaudata - pangolino indiano
Manis pentadactyla – pangolino cinese
Sweet javanica – pangolino del Borneo

The current species live in the tropical areas of South and South East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and have a length ranging from 30 to 100 centimeters.

The pangolins have the body covered with sharp horny scales formed by keratin which, one on top of the other, form a sort of "plate armor" which allows the animal to roll up in defense.
Only the belly, the inner part of the legs, the muzzle and the lateral parts of the head are uncovered. The hair is found in the parts free from scales and, in Asian species, also in the interstices. The front claws, which they mostly use for digging, are extremely long and therefore an impediment when walking on the ground. The tail is long because it is suitable for capturing ants and termites and in some species it is prehensile. The eyes are small and only the Asian species have external ears. Weak sight and hearing are compensated for by a very efficient sense of smell.

7 curiosities about pangolins

How many scales are there on a pangolin?

Each pangolin can have up to 10 thousand, on legs, head and tail. Here the scales become larger and have fairly sharp edges and in larger species they can also be used as defensive weapons.

Are pangolins dangerous?

No, indeed they are among the least dangerous animals in the world: they do not bite and do not use their claws to defend themselves. If you hold a pangolin in your arms, at most it can get a few scratches.

What is the largest pangolin?

It is the giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea), from the forests of Central Africa, which reaches almost 2 meters in length and 35 kilos in weight.

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Where does the name "pangolin" come from?

From the Malay language and the terms "pang-goling" or "peng-goling" or "peng-gulung", that is "he who rolls up". The first European explorers also called it "four-legged artichoke".

Is the pangolin a faithful animal?

Not really. The males, when they leave their own zone and enter that of another male where there are more females, the pangolins challenge each other to claw and blows with the tail. To mate will obviously be the winner, but after mating they go on to new conquests.

How long does the pangolin live?

Four or five months after mating, a pangolin is born (in Asian species even three). After three months of nursing, a young pangolin is already feeding on ants. The larger species can live up to twenty years.

They don't see us, but ...

Their tiny eyes do not allow them to see well, on the other hand they have developed good hearing and an excellent sense of smell. Pangolins live mainly during the night and, if they are attacked during the day, some glands in the anal area emit a nauseating smell, which serves to repel predators but also to mark the territory.

Things to know about pangolins

Their main feature is also their damnation: the flakes pangolins, in fact, are considered in Chinese and Vietnamese cultures as sources of thaumaturgical and magical powers. The pangolin flakes are in these countries torn, boiled, roasted or smoked to give rise to at least 15 different traditional medicines that would fight any ailments, from colds to demonic possessions.

These traditions and more: the little ones also eat the meat, considered valuable for millennia, so much so that today seven out of eight species are at risk of becoming extinct within the next generation. In Africa they can be found on the market, in China and Vietnam they are served in soup.

As if that weren't enough, another trend is to "adopt" a pangolin as a pet: since 2006 more than one million specimens have been captured and killed or resold alive as pets.

Although the hunting of these animals in Asia is illegal almost everywhere, about one million individuals have been captured or killed in the last 15 years (Source IUCN, International Union for the Conservation of Nature). The IUCN itself formed the Pangolin Specialist Group, a group of scholars and scientists dedicated to the conservation of these animals, while in the 2000s the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program (CPCP) was founded in Vietnam, an organization that protects pangolins and recovers those seized from poachers.