Giant Ground Pangolin

Giant Ground Pangolin

Giant pangolins, or giant ground pangolins, as they are also known, are the largest living pangolin species and can weigh up to 35kg! This is three times heavier than a Temminck’s pangolin, the second largest African pangolin.

Listed as Endangered by the IUCN, giant pangolins are threatened by international trafficking, poaching and habitat destruction.

How to recognise a giant ground pangolin

Physical characteristics

Pangolins are unique among mammals as they are covered in overlapping scales, composed of keratin. A giant pangolin usually has round 17 rows of scales that grow from their skin. Similarly to other African pangolin species, giant pangolins do not have hairs between their scales, while Asian pangolins do.

Their tongues can be up to 70cm long, extending more than 30cm from their mouth which they use to harvest ants and termites in rapid extrusion and retraction movements.

Like other pangolins, giant ground pangolins do not have any teeth and instead food passes directly to a structure which is similar to a bird’s gizzard where ants and termites are ground up with small stones and sand.

Unique traits

Giant pangolins are the largest living pangolin species and can be distinguished from other African species by their large size. Often confused with Temminck’s pangolins, giant pangolins are considerably larger, with more rows of scales and a less rounded tail.

Giant pangolin (c) Sangha Pangolin Project

Where do giant ground pangolins live?

Giant ground pangolins live in West and Central Africa, but their distribution is not continuous. They are found in West African countries such as Ghana, Guinea, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire and in Central African countries such as Cameroon, where Born Free work, the Central African Republic, Uganda, and the Republic of Congo. Giant pangolins habitat preference is primary and secondary rainforest, swamp forests, savannah woodlands and forest savannah mosaics. They have a wide altitudinal gradient, recorded at sea level in Gabon and up to 2,200m in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Although giant pangolins range overlaps with Temminck’s pangolin, giant ground pangolins prefer moist habitats and being close to water sources, while Temminck’s pangolins can survive in very arid areas.

Giant ground pangolins will take shelter in a range of places, such as under fallen trees, burrows, including old aardvark burrows, dense thickets or partially opened termite mounds. Some giant pangolin burrows have been found to have multiple entrances and large chambers which may allow the pangolins to turn around more easily or always exit the burrow facing forwards.

What do giant ground pangolins eat?

Giant ground pangolins are myrmecophagous, meaning that their diet is made up of ants and termites. They are well adapted to foraging for ants and termites, with long, sticky tongues and powerful clawed forelimbs which help them to break apart termite mounds.

(c) iStock

Giant ground pangolin Behaviour & Reproduction

Behaviour

Giant ground pangolins are a solitary and nocturnal species. They are terrestrial and spend daytime concealed in thicket, burrows, under tree roots or under piles of plant debris. Although they are primarily solitary, on camera traps in Dja Faunal Reserve, individuals have been captured walking close together, suggesting that there may be some associations between individuals.

Giant ground pangolins scent mark and are thought to have clear home ranges, although the size and variations of their home ranges remains unknown. Males have large anal glands and it is likely that scent-marking behaviour is used to mark territory.

Reproduction

Little is known about their reproductive behaviour, females are believed to give birth to a single offspring annually, or possibly every second year. Giant ground pangolin infants are born with soft scales and their eyes open, weighing around 500g. Infants cling to their mother for transport and are thought to stay with their mother until the next infant is born.