What do you do when you feel scared? Pangolins roll up! Let’s learn five playful pangolins facts for kids. At first glance, you might think you’re looking at a tiny dragon or a walking dinosaur. That’s because the pangolin is the only mammal in the world covered from head to tail in hard, overlapping scales. These scales are made of keratin—the exact same stuff your fingernails and hair are made of! Even though they look like they’re wearing a suit of armour, pangolins are actually shy, gentle animals that just want to find a good snack.
Pangolins live in parts of Africa and Asia, and they have some of the funniest habits in the animal kingdom. They are world-class diggers, Olympic-level swimmers, and they even have tongues that are longer than their own bodies! When they get scared, they don’t fight back; instead, they perform a magic trick by rolling into a perfect, scaly ball that even a lion can’t bite through.
Pangolins are scaly creatures that only eat insects and just like armadillos can roll right up into a little ball when they are scared!
They suit their names! Pangolin comes from the Malay word ‘pengguling’ which means ‘something that rolls up’, Very imaginative!
If rolling up into a ball doesn’t work – which it usually does! – Pangolins will start thrashing about with their strong tail muscles because they have very sharp edges on their scales that work really well to deter predators!
You can find them living high and low! Some pangolins find homes in the branches of trees, and some do the complete opposite by making their homes underground in burrows!
Their tongues are really long! When the pangolin’s tongue is fully extended it can be about 15 inches longer than its body! Which is perfect for getting into little holes to eat insects, they can also close their ears and nostrils so that none of the insects they are trying to eat get in anywhere else!
We hope you enjoyed learning more things about pangolins as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how majestic these animals are, you can move on to learn about other animals like: Rabbits, Bears, Hamsters and Skunks.
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