Pangolin

Pangolins or scaly anteaters are mammals of the order Pholidota (from the Greek word φολῐ́ς, 'horny scale'). The one extant family, Manidae, has three genera: Manis, which comprises four species living in Asia; Phataginus, which comprises two species living in Africa; and Smutsia, which comprises two species also living in Africa. These species range in size from 30 to 100 cm (12 to 39 in). A number of extinct pangolin species are also known. Pangolins have large, protective keratin scales covering their skin; they are the only known mammals with this feature. They live in hollow trees or burrows, depending on the species. Pangolins are nocturnal, and their diet consists of mainly ants and termites, which they capture using their long tongues. They tend to be solitary animals, meeting only to mate and produce a litter of one to three offspring, which are raised for about two years. Pangolins are threatened by poaching (for their meat and scales) and heavy deforestation of their natural habitats, and are the most trafficked mammals in the world. Of the eight species of pangolin, four (Phataginus tetradactyla, P. tricuspis, Smutsia gigantea, and S. temminckii) are listed as vulnerable, two (Manis crassicaudata and M. culionensis) are listed as endangered, and two (M. pentadactyla and M. javanica) are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. The name pangolin comes from the Malay word pengguling, meaning 'one who rolls up'. However, the modern name in Standard Malay is tenggiling, whereas in Indonesian it is trenggiling. The etymologies of the three generic names Manis (Linnaeus, 1758), Phataginus (Rafinesque, 1821), and Smutsia (Gray, 1865) are sometimes misunderstood. Carl Linnaeus (1758) invented the Neo-Latin generic name Manis apparently as a feminine singular form of the Latin masculine plural Manes, the Ancient Roman name for a type of spirit, after the animal's strange appearance. Constantine Rafinesque (1821) formed the Neo-Latin generic name Phataginus from the French term phatagin, adopted by Count Buffon (1763) after the reported local name phatagin or phatagen used in the East Indies. The British naturalist John Edward Gray named Smutsia for the South African naturalist Johannes Smuts (1808–1869), the first South African to write a treatise on mammals in 1832 (in which he described the species Manis temminckii).