Pangolin Characteristics and Ecological Importance
Pangolins are the only mammals in the world with scales. Their scales are made of keratin, the same substance as human finger nails and rhinoceros horn.
In response to threats, pangolins curl into a ball, shielding their body with their tough armor of scales. This behavior protects them from predators such as big cats. Unfortunately, it also makes it easier for humans to collect them.
Central Africa’s four pangolin species are primarily nocturnal, solitary, and shy mammals. They give birth to only one offspring per year and are highly vulnerable to overexploitation.
Pangolins live predominantly on a diet of ants and termites. This specialized diet makes it extremely difficult to maintain them in a captive setting. Longevity in the wild is uncertain. Individuals taken from the wild very rarely survive in captivity, usually no more than 4-5 years, and typically die due to stress and/or gastrointestinal problems.
Pangolins play a critical role in their ecosystems. They provide the earth with all-natural pest control and are fantastic tenders of soil, and they do these things simply through their everyday behaviors. It is said that a single
pangolin consumes as many as 70 million insects per year, mainly ants and termites.
Central Africa is home to the following four species of pangolin:
There are eight species of pangolin in the world, four species occur in Asia and four in Africa with all four African species present in Central Africa. The following species are present in Central Africa.
Giant pangolin/Giant ground pangolin (Manis gigantea)
The giant pangolin is the largest living pangolin species, weighing up to 35 kg. Apart from its size, it is easily distinguished from the much smaller tree dwelling African pangolins by a regular scale pattern, fossorial lifestyle, and the lack of pads at the end of the tail, which aid climbing in the arboreal species. The giant pangolin inhabits moist tropical lowland forests and forested swamps, but also occurs in mosaic habitats comprising forest and savanna.
Credit: Ekwoge Agbe/Zoological Society of San Diego & Drexel University
Temminck’s ground pangolin/Ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii)
The Temminck’s ground pangolin is the most widespread African pangolin species, and the only pangolin found in southern Africa. Aside from being larger than the white-bellied pangolin and the black-bellied pangolin, the ground pangolin is also distinguished by its fossorial as opposed to arborial lifestyle and regular scale pattern. Unlike the larger giant ground pangolin, this species is found in dry and arid environments.
White-bellied pangolin/Tree pangolin (Manis tricuspis)
The white-bellied pangolin is the most frequently encountered pangolin in Africa. Compared to the ground pangolins, the white-bellied and black-bellied pangolins are much smaller in size, have very small first forelimb claws, an irregular arrangement of scales, tail pads used for climbing, and a long and prehensile tail. They have hair on the lower sections of their forelimbs, as opposed to scales. The white-bellied pangolin inhabits lowland tropical moist forest and forest-savanna mosaics.
Credit: MENTOR-POP
Black-bellied pangolin/Long-tailed pangolin (Manis tetradactyla)
The black-bellied pangolin is the smallest and most arboreal of all African pangolins. Its tail is much longer than that of the white-bellied pangolin, reaching up to twice the length of its body. Certain characteristics separate the arboreal pangolins from the ground pangolins, including smaller size, very small first forelimb claws, irregular arrangement of scales, the presence of tail pads used for climbing, and the length of the tail, which is prehensile. The black-bellied pangolin chiefly occupies moist tropical forest around rivers and swamps.