Giant pangolin

The giant pangolin is a toothless insectivorous mammal of the family of the Manidae which lives in Africa equatorial.

Description

Morphology

Its body, except on the belly, is covered with scale overlapping chestnuts. The giant pangolins have claws before good size able to break the termitières. They are nourished, thanks to a long sticky language, exclusively of ants and termites. It does not have a tooth and does not have the possibility of chewing.

It does not have an ear but hears very well, its sense of smell is also very powerful. The average mass is not precisely known but is around 30 kg for an adult. The males are taller than the females. The males measure approximately 140 cm compared with 125 for the females. The giant Pangolin has a long muzzle, a thick tail. They go on the outside of the front handles for protected their claws and make rest the essence of its weight on its back legs. They are able to go on the back legs by using its tail out of balance.

Its stomach is very musculeux, it has large anal glands which enable them to communicate.

Chorology

Distribution

The Giant equatorial Pangolin life in Africa with more important concentration in Uganda, Tanzania and Western Kenya. They live in Savane and in wet Tropical forest or one finds the largest populations of thermites and water in good quantity. They do not live in altitude.

Ethology

It is a night and solitary animal, which sleeps the day in its burrow which can be 40 m length and 5 m of depth. It can on the occasion prove to be good swimmer. When he is threatened, he is rolled up in ball, his head between the legs. More surprising, it is able to live in the trees.

Reproduction

The small one clings to the back of his/her mother during displacements. The small ones live with their mother until the next period of reproduction. The small ones are born the open eyes and with flexible scales.

Threaten

The species is in great decline because of hunting and of the destruction of its habitat. Hunting is all the more important as the local populations allot magic powers to this species. Indeed the scales are judicious to drive out the bad spirits and the bodies of those used in several ritual. One has only little information on the species, of this fact it is always classified like tiny concern by IUCN, but it seems that they are rarifient.

See too

External references

Sources

Random links: