The Pangolin or scaly ant eaters are curious animals. Two types of pangolins are found in the country, Indian and Chinese. The latter is more common in the North East. There are seven species of Pangolins around the world. But there is no available data on the number of Chinese Pangolins found in the wild. They are in great demand in the South Asian countries.

The Pangolin has an elongated tapering body, it possesses a special characteristic appearance and it has large overlapping scales on the body. These scales act like protective armour. The scales are absent on the snout, chin, sides of face, throat, belly and inner surface of limbs. Scales may be regarded as hair or rather as spines enormously enlarged and flattened. The shape and topography of scales change with wear and tear. Colour varies from different shades of brown to yellow. The scale-less areas of the body are covered with white, brown or even black bristle like hair. The underside of the body has some coarse bristle-like hair which can be seen in-between the scales.

Pangolins are nocturnal, solitary, in habits. Though terrestrial in habit, they are excellent climbers, using ‘caterpillar locomotion’, with the firm grip of forefeet on the tree. Pangolins climb walls; they climb trees in search of tree ants. The tail provides auxiliary support.

During the day, they are found curled in burrows with many sealed outlets of loose earth, which are long tunnels ending into a large chamber. Burrows are fairly deep upto 6 m in loose soil. The depth of the burrow varies, depending on the soil type, 1.5-1.8 m in rocky soil and 6 m or more in loose soil. Usually the burrows are made under large boulders or rocks. The entrance of the burrow is closed with earth when animal is inside. It walks slowly with the back well arched and sometimes stands up on its hind feet with the body inclined forward. Pangolins have no teeth. Pangolins roll into a ball for defence and exhibit enormous muscular power that defies any ordinary attempt to unroll them. Probably stronger carnivore can prey upon them. Habitat destruction and killing for so called medicinal purposes have considerably reduced the population of the pangolin.

Eyes are small, with thick heavy eyelids. Limbs are with five clawed digits, hind leg is longer and stouter than fore leg. Their tail is thick and tapering. The tongue is long, up to 25 cm and can stick out. It is also thin and copiously lubricated. Skull is oblong or conical, without teeth. The Female Pangolin have two mammae in the thoracic region.

The Pangolins are highly specialized in their feeding habits. They feed mainly on eggs, young ones and adults of termites and ants by digging the termite or ant nests. Before digging the termite or any nests, they utilize their sense organs, smell rapidly around the area to select the most suitable spot to start with and feed rapidly by extending, long, thin, copiously lubricated tongue into the galleries of nests. Eggs are relished more than the adults. Pangolins are particularly attracted by the leaf nests of large red ants, which hold the swarms of adults and their eggs. In captivity, Pangolins are fed with milk, meat and eggs. Due to absence of teeth, food is directly taken into the stomach and grinded with the help of strong musculature and pebbles collected during feeding.

This species is found in a wide range of habitats, including primary and secondary tropical forests, limestone forests, bamboo forests, grasslands and agricultural fields. The species has been recorded in north-eastern India from Sikkim eastward. It occurs in the Himalayan foothills in eastern Nepal, apparently confined to elevations below approximately 1,500 m in Nepal, Bhutan and northern India, north-eastern Bangladesh, across Myanmar to northern Lao PDR and northern Vietnam, Thailand, and southern China and Taiwan . The species exists at high altitudes, especially in the southern and western parts of its range, possibly occurring at much lower altitudes in North East. Its latitudinal range is thought likely to overlap considerably with that of Mains Javanica, with Manis pentadactyla tending to occur in hills and mountains and the latter more generally found at lower altitudes.

Indian Pangolin occurs sporadically throughout the plains and lower slopes of hills from south of the Himalaya to Kanyakumari. It also occurs in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Indian Pangolin occupies different types of tropical forests, mainly moist, dry deciduous, wet to semi-evergreen, thorny as well as grassland. It is also recorded that the Pangolins are found in degraded wasteland near human habitation. Chinese Pangolin mainly inhabits subtropical broad-leaved forests and tropical wet, semi-evergreen and moist forests.

Pangolins are timid and inoffensive. For defence they tackle their head towards belly and curl up under the broad scaly tail so that all the vulnerable parts of the body are protected. Squirting of an aromatic liquid from the anal region has been reported as another method of defensive mechanism. Male and female are found to occupy the same burrow with the young, but very little is known about the breeding habits. Their breeding season varies from January to March in Deccan plateau, with the rare records of births during the month of July.

Populations of most Pangolin species are somehow threatened. Threats to Asian Pangolins include rapid loss and deterioration of available habitat and hunting for local use and for international trade in skins, scales and meat. There is a high demand for Pangolin scales for traditional medicines in many parts of the world. The meat of the animal could cure asthma and increase blood circulation. Some people even believe that the dry scales of Pangolins can be used to treat “ailments as ridiculous as eyelash curling inwards and hysterical crying in children”. Hides are also used to make shoes.

Evidence suggests that Pangolins, in general, are able to adapt to modified habitats (e.g., secondary forests), provided their termite food source remains abundant and they are not unduly persecuted. The species is intensively used, for its skin, meat and scales, and is evidently subject to heavy collection pressure.

The flesh of Pangolins is relished by some tribal communities and scales and skins are found in trade. Hunting, during ‘Shikar Utsav’, on a particular day of the year in Eastern States also poses a serious threat. Owing to uncommon appearance, unusual apathy of the common people towards Pangolins is another threat. Rapid loss and deterioration of habitat, steady increase in the agrarian economy combined with improved irrigation and random use of pesticides appear to be the most serious threat resulting in decline of Pangolin population in the country.

Of particular significance is that Manis pentadactyla is reported to be an easier species to locate and hunt in the wild. This is because it is more terrestrial, and is thus easier to track their scent using specialised hunting dogs and it has conspicuous soil burrows that are more easily accessed than the tree hollows favoured by Manis javanica. For these reasons, the hunting threat to Manis pentadactyla is perhaps even greater than that to Manis javanica. The species is heavily hunted inside China, and is heavily hunted for export to China in other range states, primarily for medicinal purposes.

The name Pangolin is derived from Malayan phrase ‘Pen Gulling’ meaning ‘rolling ball’, while the term Pholidota came from a Greek word meaning ‘scaled animals’. They are also known as Scaly Anteaters because of their food habits. Pangolin belongs to order Pholidota, Family Manidea, Genus and species Manis crassicaudata, Manis javanica and Manis pentadactyla.

Manis crassicaudata is commonly known as Indian pangolin, thick tailed pangolin and French call it Grand Pangolin de Linde or pangolin a grosse queue. Manis pentadactyla is commonly known as Chinese pangolin, French calls it Pangolin A Queue Courte or Pangolin De Chine and Spanish calls it Pangolin Chino.

Both the species of Pangolins of India are listed as lower risk threatened (Lrnt) by IUCN.As per Red Data Book of Indian Animals (Z.S.I 1994), M. Crassicaudata is considered vulnerable and M. Pentadactyal as insufficiently known.

In India, this species is completely protected, as it is included in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. Hunting of this species is prohibited in Nepal. Iucn has put it in the Red List Category and Endangered A2d+3d+4d. This species is listed on CITES Appendix II. It is protected by national or subnational legislation in Bangladesh, China, India, Lao, Myanmar, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. This wide ranging species is present in some protected areas, but protected area designation alone is not sufficient to protect this species. In Bangladesh, all Pangolins are legally protected. In Taiwan, all Manis species have been protected since August 1990 under the 1989 Wildlife Conservation Law. This species is listed as a Class II protected species in China’s Wild Animal Protection Law (1989), and also as a class II protected species in China in the Regulations on the Conservation and Management of Wild Resources of Medicinal Plants and Animals (1987).

In Thailand, all Manis species are classified as Protected Wild Animals under the 1992 Wild Animals Reservation and Protection Act B.E 2535. A Center for excellence in Pangolin Research, Conservation and Monitoring studies has been set up at Ajmer in Rajasthan.