Walking Pinecone: Pangolin: Self-Defense

(Mother and Baby)

PANGOLIN: Self-defense

Looking like a pine cone with legs, Pangolin is often called “Scaly Anteater”. However, He is not related to any other animal, Anteaters included. Living in Africa and Asia, Pangolin waddles about sniffing out Termites and Ants. Usually solitary, Pangolin sleeps during the day in his burrow and roams at night looking for his favorite Termites.

With his sharp claws, Pangolin will excavate termite mounds. Then with his long sticky tongue, He collects the victims. A selective feeder, Pangolin uses his acute sense of smell to locate his favorite termite species.

In his travels, Pangolin is protected by his suit of armor made of sharp-edged scales. When threatened He will roll Himself into a tight ball. Usually, this acts as a deterrent. However, when Jackal tries to bite through his armor, Pangolin will wrap his prehensile tail around Jackal’s throat, and choke the attacker.

Local Africans tell of seeing Pangolin taking an ‘ant bath’. He settles into an ant nest, raises his scales, and allows the Ants to crawl underneath. Then Pangolin lowers his scales, crushing the Ants, and goes into the water. After raising his scales, the dead ants float out. People believe that this is how Pangolin cleans his scales.

What people admire most about Pangolin is his ability to defend Himself. Sometimes, Africans bury pangolin scales near their homes to keep Lions away. Pangolin is well-suited for self-defense with his scales and grasping tail. You can learn self-defense from waddling Pangolin.

Wisdom from Pangolin:
Focused Living
Practical Solutions
Creative Thinking

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Copyright: Virginia Carper, Animal Teachers, 2008

From Universal Class, fun self-paced classes taught by me:

Finding Your Animal Teachers

Animals For Everyone: Mammals

The Anteater Family: Conservation

Anteater Family: Conservation

Solitary Mammals, Anteaters live in the grasslands, savannas, and tropical forests of Central and South America. The most well-known of Anteaters, Giant Anteater has a long, tubular snout and a long, thin tongue. Spending her day shuffling awkwardly along on her knuckles, She sniffs for Ants and Termites. Finding an ant hill, Giant Anteater catches them with her long tongue, rapidly flicking it in and out of an ant hill.

Cousins of Giant Anteater, Tamanduas partially live in trees. These smaller Anteaters move from tree limb to tree limb, capturing Ants with their tongues or with their sticky fingers. Unlike Giant Anteaters, Tamanduas are active at night.

The smallest of the Anteaters, Silky Anteater lives exclusively in the trees of the rainforest. Called “silky”, this Anteater resembles the seed pod of the silk-cotton tree. To hide from Jaguar and Harpy Eagle, He remains motionless on that tree.

Anteaters roam widely from termite nest to nest. Although one Anteater eats 35,000 insects a day, They eat lightly from each nest. Anteaters make sure that Insects on their feed route can replenish their numbers. This method provides a continual food source for Them. Learn how to conserve from these odd-looking Mammals.


Wisdom of the Anteater Family:
Being Strange and Wonderful
Getting Ride of Pests
The Wandering Life
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Science Note: Many animals that are called “anteaters” are not related to the Anteater family. Banded Anteater (Numbat) is a marsupial. Spiny Anteater (Echidna) is an egg-laying mammal. Scaly Anteater (Pangolin) is in a mammal family of itself.

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Copyright: Virginia Carper, Animal Teachers, 2008

From Universal Class, fun self-paced classes:
Finding Your Animal Teachers
Animals For Everyone: Mammals

Teachings of the Giant Anteater: Enjoy the Scenery

Giant Anteater: Enjoy the Scenery

The largest of all the Anteaters, Giant Anteater is a comical looking Animal with her long nose and hairy tail. Rare among Mammals, Giant Anteater has no teeth. Sniffing out Ants with her spectacular nose, Giant Anteater vacuums Them up. (Her long nose is a bone tube fused by her upper and lower jaws.)

Shuffling along on her knuckles to protect her sharp claws, Giant Anteater roams the swamps and open forests of South America in search of tasty Insects. Smelling a Termite mound, She digs into it dislodging the hapless Insects. Discovering a log, Giant Anteater tears into it for Ants. Her acute hearing also allows Her to hear the Insects as They escape.

Because Giant Anteater has the lowest body temperature of any land Mammal, She has to sleep fifteen hours a day. Finding an abandoned burrow, She curls up and sleeps. Her long brushy tail acts as a sunshade and blanket.

Giant Anteater asks us to take the time to enjoy the scenery. Leisurely roaming from place to place, She finds new smells and sounds to delight in. Lingering long enough to savor them, Giant Anteater moves on to the next adventure.

Wisdom of the Giant Anteater:
Take the Slow Road
Make Time for Leisure
Sniffing Out Good Things

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Copyright: Virginia Carper, Animal Teachers, 2008

From Universal Class, fun self-paced classes:
Finding Your Animal Teachers
Animals For Everyone: Mammals

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UCIrvine has as their mascot the Anteater.

National Zoo: Anteater

In July, the Washington D.C. National Zoo was surprised when they found that their giant anteater had a little baby. This baby looked like the Mom in every way. They found her clinging on her mom's back. However, since the two were inseparable, it took awhile before anyone knew the baby's sex. So every one called the baby, "Little Snozzie" because of her long nose. Her official name is Aurora.

From the Zoo's site: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Amazonia/Facts/fact-anteater.cfm

"The giant anteater may be five to seven feet long, from nose to tail, and weigh 40 to 86 pounds. It has a narrow head, long nose, small eyes, and round ears. Its coarse hair may be gray or brown, with a white-banded black stripe running along the body to mid-torso, and a long, bushy tail, which can be two to three feet long. Its front feet have large claws, which are curled under when it walks. It has poor vision but a keen sense of smell. "

"The giant anteater detects termite mounds and anthills with its keen sense of smell and tears them open with its strong claws. Its long nose, which contains a bone tube formed by the fusion of the upper and lower jaws, functions as a vacuum, sucking in the insects. The anteater's sticky tongue—up to two feet long—collects more insects. An anteater may eat as many as 30,000 ants in a day."