Features

• Pangolins feature a small head that has no external ears, although despite this, the creature has acute hearing. Pangolins lack teeth, as they have no need to chew the various insect species they consume. A tongue as long as 16 inches in some species allows it to access bugs in their nests. Pangolins have sharp curved claws that they use to rip apart the nests of insects on the ground and in trees; pangolins walk on their knuckles to protect these claws. The mammal has a covering of hard scales comprised of keratin that protect it like armor when it rolls itself into a ball. These scales are everywhere on a pangolin with the exception of its snout, eyes, ear openings, belly and the underneath portion of its legs, according to the Enchanted Learning website.
  
  

Size

• The giant pangolin can be as long as 62 inches, while the tree pangolin, one of the smaller kinds of this animal, are in the 12- to 34-inch long range. Much of the length of a pangolin is from its tail. The African Wildlife Foundation site notes that as much as 20 percent of the weight of a pangolin comes from its scales. The young pangolins are in the 6-inch long range at birth and weigh about 12 oz.
  
  

Geography and Types

• The range of the pangolin includes central parts of the African continent and sections of Southeast Asia. The three main types of this scaly anteater include the giant pangolin, the ground pangolin and the tree pangolin. The tree pangolins spend the majority of their time in the branches of trees, while the other pangolin species exist in thickly forested areas and open savanna grasslands.
  
  

Function

• While a pangolin has poor vision, its sense of smell is quite good and the animal employs it to home in on the bugs it craves. Pangolins tear up the insect nests with abandon and then insert their tongues into the nests to procure the ants and termites it eats. The tongue, when not in use, actually retracts into a special sheath in the pangolin's chest. The sticky mucus that coats the tongue comes from big salivary glands; this makes the hapless insects stick to the tongue when it comes into contact with them.
  
  

Protection

• The pangolin, although its claws are sharp enough to do considerable damage, does not utilize them as a weapon as other kinds of anteaters will. Instead, when danger presents itself, the pangolin curls up and contracts its muscles, making it so that nothing can infiltrate its soft underbelly or pull it back into a normal position. The hard sharp scales inflict painful cuts to anything that tries to pry them apart. Pangolins can roll away from a threat and the mother pangolin will roll herself into a protective ball around her youngster.