Walking Beside a Pangolin
Most people will never get to witness a pangolin in the wild, let alone see one eat and go about its daily (well, nightly) activities. But after spending hundreds of hours alongside them in the veld, watching them forage and feed, we’ve come to appreciate just how incredibly specialised and tough they really are.
This article brings together known biological facts and firsthand insights, gathered from field experience and pangolin rehabilitation programs working to release Temminck’s ground pangolins back into the wild in South Africa. We will also explore what makes pangolins such effective and oddly endearing predators.
Most references made in this piece refer to Temminck’s ground pangolin, the only South African species, although its range stretches well into East Africa. There are eight pangolin species in total (see the species list at the end), each adapted to its unique environment.
What’s for Dinner?
Pangolins are insectivores, feeding exclusively on ants and termites. While this diet isn’t unique in the animal kingdom, the way they go about it is pretty remarkable.
In Southern Africa, this diet is shared with two other elusive nocturnal mammals: the aardvark and the aardwolf.
- The aardvark (despite its name, not a pig) is currently the only member of the order Tubulidentata. Its closest living relatives include golden moles, elephants, and manatees.
- The aardwolf, despite the similar name, is not closely related to the aardvark. It is actually the smallest of the four Hyena species.
The first challenge a pangolin faces after emerging from its burrow, after nightfall, is finding food. Their eyesight is poor, but they make up for it with an exceptional sense of smell, which they use to locate ants from over 20 meters away.
Once they’ve located a nest, they use their strong front claws to break into the mound. If you’ve ever tried to chip away at a termite mound yourself, you’ll know it can be as hard as concrete. Pangolins are incredibly strong for their size and they come equipped with three specialised 10 cm claws on each forelimb. These claws are so essential to their survival that they don’t risk dulling them by walking on them. Instead, they walk bipedally, on their back legs, with the front claws tucked under their chest and they use their elevated muscular tail for balance.
Getting at the Good Stuff
Pangolins have no teeth, and they do not suck or vacuum the ants out of their tunnels. They have narrow jaws that are shaped to guide a long, sticky tongue deep into the winding tunnels of ant and termite mounds. That tongue is around 30-40 cm long, and unlike a chameleon, it doesn’t coil or fold inside their mouth. It slides back inside a sheath that spans the length of their body and is anchored near the pelvis and the last pair of ribs.
When a pangolin is feeding, you can actually see its abdominal muscles contracting and relaxing, rhythmically driving the tongue in and out of the nest. It’s surprisingly mechanical and incredibly efficient.
Their tongue is coated in sticky saliva that traps ants and termites on contact. Everything is swallowed whole - no chewing. And yes, I mean everything! Because pangolins can’t see what they’re pulling in with that sticky tongue, they end up swallowing a fair bit of dirt, sticks, and leaves that are scattered throughout the ant tunnels.
Once swallowed, the prey passes into a muscular stomach which, much like a bird’s gizzard, is lined with keratinous spines. These spines, along with the dirt and debris they ingest, help mechanically grind up the insects for digestion.
The result? Pangolin poop is coarse, gritty, and packed with all the indigestible debris and exoskeletons of their prey.
The Colony’s Perspective – A race against time
To us, a pangolin doesn’t look like much of a threat, being only about a meter long and weighing around 10 kilograms. But to an ant, they’re an armoured, unstoppable predator tearing through the nest.
Once breached, the colony goes into panic mode. Worker ants rush to move the larvae and eggs (a particular delicacy for pangolins) deeper underground. Meanwhile, alarm pheromones are released to alert other members of the colony. These pheromones are also believed to produce a rather unpleasant odour, which may contribute to the nest becoming increasingly unpalatable over time, especially to an animal with a sense of smell as strong as a pangolin.
Soon after, the larger, more aggressive soldier ants arrive and start attacking the threat. Depending on the species, these attacks range from biting and stinging to full-on chemical warfare, as some ants release formic acid, which irritates and burns the skin.
To cope, pangolins close their nostrils and eyes while feeding. This helps keep the ants out of their most vulnerable areas.
The amount of pain from biting ants that a pangolin is willing to endure really depends on the individual. I’ve noticed that each pangolin seems to have a particular favourite species of ant or termite. If they find a nest of that specific colony, I’ve seen them hunker down for half an hour at the same hole, working to extract every last insect they can.
Time to Move On
Eventually, the ants win, either because they have all moved too deep for the pangolin to reach, or the mix of painful bites and chemicals simply gets too much for the pangolin, and it would rather move on to find another colony to feed on.
Worker ants quickly get to work repairing the damage. I’ve returned to mounds the next evening and the only evidence of the intrusion from the night before is a still-damp patch of mud sealing the hole.
Pangolins will repeat this process throughout the night, walking several kilometers away from their burrows to forage. They can consume up to 200 grams of ants and termites per night, which adds up to more than 70 million insects per year.
At the end of a long night, the tired pangolin will retreat back into its underground burrow. A tired pangolin, like all mammals, has a yawn reflex. Just like when we yawn, they also open their mouth and stick their tongue out—except their tongue is 40 cm long. This is as cute as you are imagining.
Another adorable fact about pangolins is that they rather enjoy water. Although pangolins rarely need to drink water - they have adapted to live in arid regions and get most of their moisture from the insects they eat. However, if they find water they will take a drink, much like a dog by lapping at it with their tongues, but as they do this, they blow little bubbles in the water because of their sticky saliva.
If the water source is big enough, pangolins will sometimes take a bath to cool down, clean their scales, get rid of parasites, or just to have a bit of fun.
Pangolins are typically very shy, and most encounters with humans are stressful or frightening for them. That’s why people often only see them curled into a ball or scurrying away into the bush. Very few ever witness their playful and endearing side.
But for the lucky few who’ve built trust through patient handling, pangolins occasionally let their guard down—and when they do, you realise how full of personality they really are.
I’ve seen one pangolin that loved it when I poured water over him from a bottle. He’d roll onto his back and stretch out his belly to be soaked in the cooling liquid. Another individual would climb to the top of a termite mound to feed, and instead of climbing back down, he would curl into a ball and roll back down.
“Pangolins are one of the most endearing animals I have ever met.”
- David Attenborough
Not a Reptile (or a dinosaur)
Pangolins have been around for 80 million years, meaning that these animals lived alongside the dinosaurs. But despite their scales, and what many people believe, they are neither dinosaurs nor reptiles. Pangolins are, in fact, the only mammals completely covered in overlapping scales from head to tail. These keratin plates make up around 20% of their body weight and are incredibly tough.
When threatened, pangolins roll into a tight ball, tucking their soft belly and face inside. Even large African predators like lions and leopards struggle to break through. Unfortunately, these scales don’t do much to protect them from ants, which can sneak between the gaps and bite the soft skin underneath.
Their scales aren’t just armour; they are weapons too. The edges are surprisingly sharp and can do some damage if a predator tries to break through. I once had a nervous pangolin curl up while I was holding her, and my arm got trapped in the middle. I had no choice but to wait for her to calm down and release me. Trying to force her open or yank my arm free would’ve likely left me with a few deep scratches.
Final Thoughts
Pangolins might look strange at first glance, but their adaptations are nothing short of brilliant. Built for survival, engineered by evolution, and shaped by the ecosystems they live in, they remain one of the least understood and most remarkable creatures in the wild.
We feel lucky to have spent time with them, and even luckier to share some of their stories with you.
A Note on Species and Terminology
Throughout this article, I use the terms nest and mound as well as ant and termite interchangeably. Most references made to pangolins in this piece refer to the Temminck’s Ground Pangolin, which is the only South African species, but its range stretches most of the way up through East Africa.
There are a total of eight pangolin species found throughout Africa and Asia. While many of the pangolin's traits mentioned above are shared amongst the various species, each one has specifically adapted to its environment.
African Species:
- Temminck's Ground Pangolin – Southern & Eastern Africa
- Giant Ground Pangolin – Equatorial Africa
- White-bellied Pangolin – Central & West Africa
- Black-bellied Pangolin – West & Central Africa
Asian Species:
- Indian Pangolin – Indian Subcontinent
- Philippine Pangolin – Philippines
- Sunda Pangolin – Southeast Asia
- Chinese Pangolin – China, India, Nepal, Vietnam
Of these, three species - the White-bellied, Black-bellied, and Sunda Pangolins - are arboreal. They use semi-prehensile tails to climb and forage in trees and are known to shelter in tree hollows, unlike the burrow-dwelling ground pangolins.