INDIAN PANGOLIN
DESCRIPTION: The Indian Pangolin is a large,
Old World anteater that has a faint pinkish white skin covered dorsally by a
suit of dirty yellow scales. Unlike in
African Pangolins, the scales are sparsely covered with reddish brown hair, and
the skin is visible only on its lower body and face. The scale colours vary in
yellow and red overtones, depending on the earth that it burrows in. The face
is small and the mouth tubular. The eyes are small, the ears are slits in the
skin with a small ear pinna. The nose is rounded, with large nostrils, which have
flaps that enable closure. The tongue is long and sticky. The hind legs have a calloused
sole and short, blunt nails on their five toes, in sharp contrast to its powerful
forelimbs armed with three very long claws (the other two being shorter). The tail is long and ends in a
scale.
BEHAVIOUR: Pangolins hiss sharply if confronted
and then curl into a ball, which is very difficult to ‘unroll’. As they do not
have teeth, curling is their primary defence mechanism. They can climb trees
and swim when required to.
DISTRIBUTION: Found through most of India
except the arid deserts, the high Himalayas and the North–East. Can go up to
2,500 m in the Nilgiris in southern India.
HABITAT: Scrub, urban cultivation,
grassland, forests (deciduous and evergreen) and even semi-arid areas.
Size: HBL: 60–70 cm
0 comments:
Post a Comment