Pangolins are weird and wonderful creatures covered with protective horny, overlapping scales.


Pangolins are not related to armadillos.
When threatened, pangolins roll into a ball.
Pangolins are sometimes called scaly anteaters.
The Southern African pangolin can be found in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and also in the northern regions of South Africa, where there is no frost and a lot of ants to eat.
Pangolins spend most of their time in abandoned warthog burrows and are nocturnal – only coming out at night.
A pangolin’s eye sight is very poor and they rely on their sense of smell.


Their diet consists mainly of ants and termites.


As they do not have teeth, pangolins use their extremely long tongue to feed. The tongue is covered in a sticky mucous to help them capture their prey.