Pangolins are frequently referred to as scaly anteaters, which is a pretty accurate description of them despite the fact that they are not closely related to anteaters. To slurp up ants and termites, pangolins, like anteaters, have long snouts and even longer tongues. Scales that create a kind of armor are all over their body.
Keratin, which also makes up human hair and fingernails, is used to create the scales. Pangolins ball themselves up when they sense danger. A terrible cut could result for the other animal if it gets trapped in the scales. The phrase “penguin,” which means “rolling over” in Malay, is where the name “pangolin” originates.
Did you know that pangolin pups, or baby pangolins, are sometimes called? A popup is typically found perched precariously atop a mother pangolin’s scaly tail.
Pangolins have young.
Pangolins typically give birth to a single popup, however, some Asiatic species have been known to produce up to three. Pangolins weighs ¾ of a pound and are just six inches long when they are born. While a pangopup’s soft pink scales harden to provide some protection, pangolin mothers shelter their young in tree hollows or subterranean tunnels during the first few days of life.
However, pangopups are especially helpless against predators. When they come out of their caves, they hold on to their mother’s back. The mother pangolin can also instantly roll up into a protective ball to fold her pup away from any danger at any time.
Pangolin pups depend on their moms for milk for the first few months of their lives, but as early as one month after birth, juvenile pangolins start eating ants and termites. Pangolin puppies remain with their moms until they are two years old, at which point they are ready to reproduce and start the next generation of pangolins.
