Pangolin

Scales made of keratin

Pangolin scales are made of keratin — the same protein as human fingernails and rhino horns. They are the only mammals with this feature. The scales overlap like artichoke leaves or roof tiles, providing flexible but extremely tough armor. A rolled-up pangolin is almost impossible for most predators to open; even lions typically give up.

The scales account for up to 20% of body weight in some species.

A tongue longer than the body

Pangolins have no teeth. Instead, they use an enormously long, muscular, sticky tongue — which in the larger species can extend 40 cm beyond the mouth (longer than the head and neck combined) — to extract ants and termites from mounds and logs. The tongue retracts into a sheath in the chest cavity when not in use.

A single pangolin can consume 70 million insects per year, making them significant controllers of ant and termite populations.

The most trafficked mammal on Earth

All eight pangolin species are listed as threatened to critically endangered. An estimated 1 million pangolins were trafficked in the decade from 2000–2010 for:

• Scales — used in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine despite no proven efficacy
• Meat — considered a luxury food in parts of China and Vietnam

Despite international trade bans under CITES (2016), demand continues to drive poaching at unsustainable levels across both their African and Asian ranges.

COVID-19 connection

In early 2020, pangolins were identified as a possible intermediate host in the SARS-CoV-2 origin chain — Malayan pangolins carry coronaviruses with genetic similarities to SARS-CoV-2. This scientific connection briefly raised global awareness of their plight, though their conservation situation remains critical.