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Mammal

Indian pangolin

Manis crassicaudata

हिन्दी: चींटीखोर

IUCN: Endangered
Indian pangolin covered in brown scales walking on red soil
Scientific name
Manis crassicaudata
Hindi name
चींटीखोर
Family
Manidae, order Pholidota
Group
Mammal
Conservation status
Endangered
Length
About 60 to 75 cm, plus a 45 cm tail
Weight
About 10 to 16 kg
Young
Born after about two months

An ant-eater in a suit of armour.

  • Spot it Covered in large, overlapping yellow-brown scales, with a small head and a thick tail.
  • Home Dry forest, scrub and grassland with soft soil for burrows.
  • Food web Eats ants and termites and their eggs, licked up with a long sticky tongue; it has no teeth.
  • Why it matters A single pangolin eats huge numbers of termites and ants every year, and its digging turns the soil.

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