Pangolin

The pangolion, or Manis temminckii, is one of the most endangered animals that anyone has heard of. They are very unusual looking, appearing nothing like any other animal in the area they live in. To put their looks into perspective, they sort of resemble artichokes because they have layered pointed-like scales that resemble the look of an artichoke. Those scales are made from keratin, the same material that our hair and nails are made out of. There is also a big gap in the weight differences of these animals. Their weight can range anywhere from 3.5 pounds to 73 pounds, depending on which species it is and where it lives and eats.

The pangolin is considered one of the most endangered animals in the world because many people are hunting them down for the keratin in their scales. In addition, the pangolin may look like it is related to the armadillo. However, it is not. It may have the same features and instincts that an armadillo does, but it isn't related to the armadillo family.

Pangolins usually reach sexually maturity at around two years old. Then they start to find mates and start families. Most pangolins birth one baby per pregnancy. The infants are about 1/3 the size of their mother, so it’s hard to have more than one per pregnancy. They grow up with their parents, but stray away from them at around the same age they are mature, two years old. And then the cycle continues.

Pangolins live in a variety of environments including tropical rainforests, flooded forests, thick brush, cleared and cultivated areas, and savannah grassland. Their habitats are usually very warm and in areas of some to high humidity. The pangolins diet is made up of ants and termites, which they may replace or confuse with other invertebrates including bee larvae, flies, worms, earthworms, and crickets. They hunt for their food by digging into the ground to burrow and coming across insects on the ground just crawling and they eat them. Their predators are leopards, hyenas, and humans.

The population of the pangolin is not very high. They are very rare and you can’t really find a lot of them anywhere. You are most likely not to find one in the wild. Humans capture these animals for their scales and sell them in stores because since the animals are so rare, they can make a lot of money off of them. Humans also hunt them for the same reason they hunt rhinos, because a rhinos horn is made of the same material, keratin, as the pangolin's scales. The number of pangolins keeps dropping and sooner or later, they will become extinct.