Giant pangolin: largest scaled mammal on earth

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The Giant pangolin is the largest scaled mammal on Earth. Scientifically named Smutsia gigantea and also known as the Giant Ground Pangolin, these gigantic creatures possess heavy keratin armour. Furthermore, their Giant Pangolin size lives up to their name, with adult males growing to 1.8 metres long. These scaly anteaters use their incredibly sticky tongues to pull termites from deep forest mounds.

However, the magnificent Giant Pangolin faces severe threats today. Rampant palm oil deforestation destroys their vital West African habitats. Meanwhile, illegal poaching for traditional medicine decimates their remaining wild populations. Therefore, protecting these nocturnal anteaters requires us to actively boycott destructive industries and defend Indigenous lands.

Red list classification: Endangered

Locations: Cameroon; Central African Republic; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d’Ivoire; Equatorial Guinea (Equatorial Guinea (mainland)); Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Liberia; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; South Sudan; Tanzania, United Republic of; Uganda

Presence Uncertain: Benin; Burkina Faso; Kenya; Niger

Giant pangolins have several quirky traits: they consume up to 70 million insects annually, primarily through nocturnal feasts, and lack teeth, instead swallowing stones to aid digestion. They walk on the sides of their wrists to protect their claws and have a keen sense of smell to compensate for their poor vision.

Appearance and behaviour

Unique among mammals, their scales are made of keratin, the same material as human hair and nails. These account for around 20% of their body weight. These characteristics underscore their unique ecological niche and fascinating adaptations.

The Giant Pangolin is the largest of all pangolin species. With males measuring around 1.8 meters in length and females reaching up to 1.36 meters in length.

Their bodies are adorned with thick, keratin scales that serve as armour against predators. These scales, combined with their significant size, set them apart as majestic creatures of the west African jungle.

Giant Ground Pangolins are nocturnal and rely upon their exceptional sense of smell to locate the 19 specific species of ants and termites that comprise their diet. Despite their poor eyesight, they are adept at navigating their diverse habitats, from forested swamps to moist tropical forests across Central and West Africa. Their methodical consumption of insects, aided by ingesting small stones for digestion, highlights their crucial ecological role as pest controllers.

Threats

• Hunting and Poaching: The primary threat to Giant Pangolins comes from hunting and poaching for bushmeat and traditional medicine. This significantly impacts their populations across Africa.
• Bushmeat: These animals are desirable on the illegal bushmeat markets, contributing to an increased pressure on their numbers.
• Illegal wildlife trade: Despite protections, a substantial illegal trade persists, with significant quantities of scales trafficked internationally, posing a major threat to their survival.
• Habitat Loss: Deforestation and habitat degradation for palm oil, meat and cocoa along with mining especially in West Africa, pose severe threats to their habitats, impacting their area of occupancy and survival rates.

Geographic range

The Giant Pangolin inhabits a diverse range of environments across Africa, from primary and secondary rainforests to gallery and swamp forests, as well as forest-savannah mosaics and wooded savannahs. Their presence extends from sea level in Gabon to high altitudes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, indicating a versatile adaptation to various ecosystems. This species is thought to rely on access to permanent water sources. Their wide geographic range underscores the importance of varied habitats for their survival, from Uganda’s savannah woodlands to Tanzania’s miombo woodlands.

Diet

The Giant Pangolin’s diet is highly specialised and focuses almost exclusively on ants and termites. They are capable of consuming around 70 million insects per year. They are therefore known as the forest ecosystem’s natural pest controllers. Their eating habits are unique, involving up to 90 meals in a single night, with each meal lasting about a minute. This efficient feeding strategy is facilitated by their long, sticky tongues, adept at extracting insects from nests, despite the pangolins’ lack of teeth, requiring them to ingest small stones to aid in grinding their food.

Mating and reproduction

Smutsia gigantea have a unique reproductive cycle, with little known about their breeding habits. They usually give birth once, following a gestation of around 140 days, to a single young that is born with open eyes and soft scales. These newborns, weighing about 500g, initially move on their bellies and display a defense mechanism by secreting a yellow substance from their anal glands. The mother’s care extends to nursing for 3-4 months and includes carrying the young on her tail during foraging. This intimate parenting underscores the species’ complex social behaviors within their habitats, spanning from rainforests to savannah woodlands, indicating a reliance on diverse ecosystems and possibly on permanent water sources.

Support Giant Pangolins by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife

Gorongosa National Park: Pangolin rehabilitation programme

Further Information

Nixon, S., Pietersen, D., Challender, D., Hoffmann, M., Godwill Ichu, I., Bruce, T., Ingram, D.J., Matthews, N. & Shirley, M.H. 2019. Smutsia gigantea. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T12762A123584478. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T12762A123584478.en. Accessed on 29 February 2024.

Quaglia, Sofia; Endangered giant pangolin spotted in Senegal after nearly 24 years. Nature.

Giant Pangolin Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_pangolin

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