THE ANIMAL FILES

Sunda pangolin

Manis javanica

Scales outside, a sticky tongue inside.

The Sunda pangolin combines powerful digging claws with a toothless mouth and a long sticky tongue. Its brown keratin scales protect a very different feeding apparatus inside. Curling changes which body surface is exposed when the animal is threatened.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
Sunda pangolin
Image: Piekfrosch at German Wikipedia (Original text: Piekfrosch (Wikipedia-User)) · Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Opening the nest
Strong claws break into soil and mounds.[1]
Collecting without teeth
The long tongue carries sticky secretions.[1]
A protective surface
Keratin forms the overlapping scales.[1][2]

Opening the nest

The front limbs and thick claws help reach ants and termites in their nests. Locating and opening a nest precedes collecting prey; the animal's feeding depends on gaining access as well as on what happens inside its mouth.[1]

Collecting without teeth

Sunda pangolins lack teeth. A long sticky tongue gathers ants and termites after the claws expose them. The division of labour is clear: claws open the structure, while the tongue retrieves small prey from the accessible spaces.[1]

A protective surface

Rows of scales cover the body. When threatened, the animal can curl to shield its softer underside. Scales do not make it a reptile: the NCBI lineage places this animal among mammals, in Pholidota.[1][2]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Do scales make a pangolin a reptile?

No. Its mammalian lineage is separate from reptiles; an outer covering alone is not a relationship tree.[2]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why are strong claws and a sticky tongue useful together?

Reveal the explanation

The claws expose hidden nests, and the tongue collects the small prey that becomes accessible.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Sunda pangolin (cited revision)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Manis javanica

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

European hedgehogA spiny visitor with more than one kind of nest.Erinaceus europaeus ↗European moleTiny, fur-hidden eyes are still eyes that can detect light.Talpa europaea ↗Common vampire batA blood-feeding bat can also be a careful food-sharing neighbour.Desmodus rotundus ↗