Chinese PangolinManis pentadactyla

Characteristics

• They can vary from 3.5 lb to 75lb!• Males weight 10% to 50% more than females• They are 12 to 35 inches long• Their tail is 10 to 35 inches long• It is still unknown how long they live in the wild,

though they can live as long as 20 years in captivity• They are solitary animals• Nocturnal

Habitat and Food

Chinese Pangolins live mostly in southeast asia where there is plenty of grassland and forests to hide in.

Prefer temperate to warm environments.They eat insects especially termites using their

long tongues similar to an anteater.Pangolins have no teeth so they swallow small

pebbles to help grind up their food.

Natural DefensesAll but the sides of their heads and the bottom

of their stomachs are covered in thick scales.When threatened they curl into a ball with

their head tucked underneath their tail.If this does not work they will spray a smelly

liquid like a skunk.

Reproduction

• Very little is known about this subject• They become mature at 2 years• What is known is that they give birth to one

baby after 60 to 75 days• The young ride on the mothers tail for more

than 4 months

Why are they endangered?

Chinese Pangolins have only one natural predator and that is the leopard and leopards rarely eat them due to their large scales.

In China they are considered a delicacy and are often smuggled into restaurants.

Some traditional Chinese medicine techniques believe that eating a pangolin or its scales will improve blood circulation.

Pangolin Soup

Conservation

• Police are becoming for thorough in traffic searches and the penalties are becoming harsher

• Recently two smugglers were caught selling dead pangolins in China, they were both given death sentences

• The best way to conserve the species is to protect their habitat because it is expensive and difficult to raise them in captivity

Quiz

• How long do they live in captivity?• What is their secondary defense?• What is the penalty for smuggling them?• Why are they endangered?• Are they a mammal or a reptile?

Works Cited

• www.savepangolins.org• www.newworldencyclopedia.org