Pangolins: Tails

Summary: All pangolins have tails, but each species’ tail is unique. Join Kiersten and a special guest co-host as they discuss pangolin tails.

 

For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.

 

Show Notes:

Pangolin ID Guide: https://www.usaidrdw.org//resources/pangolin-species-identification-guide/pangolin-id-guide-rast-english.pdf

pangolins.org

https://arkansasresearch.uark.edu/researcherss-discover-fossil-of-new-species-of-pangolin-in-europe/

Pangolin Conservation Organizations: 

Rare and Endangered Species Trust - www.restnamibia.org

Save Vietnam’s Wildlife - www.svw.vn

 

 

Transcript

(Piano music plays)

Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.

(Piano music stops)

 

Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right outside our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 

 

This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.

 

This episode continues pangolins and my ninth favorite thing about pangolins is their tails. Today I have a special guest co-host, my friend Cheryl! Cheryl and I co-host another podcast together called The Feathered Desert and it’s all about bird feeding in the Southwest region of the United States.

Thanks for joining me Cheryl!

 

Cheryl: Thank you for having me Kiersten! I’m very excited to be here and pangolins are one of my favorite animals.

 

Kiersten: I know you are as intrigued by pangolins as I am, so I’m glad you could join me for the penultimate episode of my pangolin series! Today we’re going to talk about tails! I know that seems like a strange thing to focus on, but all pangolins have tails. It’s a very important part of their body structure, but each species tail is a little bit different!

 

As always, let’s start off with our Asian pangolins and Cheryl’s going to kick it off with the Chinese pangolin.

 

Cheryl:  The Chinese pangolin’s tail is 25-40 cm long or 10-16 inches in length. It has 16-19 scales along the edge of the tail. This pangolin’s tail is semi-prehensile which means it can curl the end of its tail around an object to hold or grasp it. They use this adaptation to hold onto branches when they are in trees and to steady themselves when walking over rugged terrain.

 

Okay, I have a question. 

 

Kiersten: Yes!

 

Cheryl: The scales on the tail, do they start of larger and get smaller?

 

Kiersten: That depends on the species, but in general, yes. The scales at the base of the tail will be larger than the scales at the tip.

 

The Sunda pangolin’s tail is a little bit longer than the Chinese pangolin’s at 35-57 cm or 14-22 inches. They have 21-29 scales along the edge of the tail and it is more slender than the Chinese or pangolin’s tail. The Sunda pangolin’s tail is fully prehensile which means they are able to manipulate items with their tail like a human hand.

 

Cheryl: Do they do that?

 

Kiersten: I have not seen any evidence that they pick up things and carry them around or move things because they eat ants, so its not like they need to collect fruit or anything but they certainly have the ability to do it if they need to.

 

Cheryl: Our third Asian species is the Philippine pangolin. Their tail is 35-52 cm long or 14-20 inches long. They have 28-32 scales along the edge of the tail. Like the Sunda pangolin’s tail, the Philippine pangolin’s tail is fully prehensile which comes in very handy since this pangolin spends most of its time in the trees. They are able to wrap their tail around tree branches as they tear open ant nests (I didn't even know ants would be in trees! How interesting.)    and even hang their entire body weight from their tail. The Philippine pangolin’s tail is the longest in proportion to their body of all the Asian species.

 

Kiersten: Our last Asian pangolin is the Indian pangolin. Their tails are 40-45 cm in length or 16-18 inches. They have only 14-15 scales along the edge of the tail because their scales are larger in size than our other asian pangolins. Their tails are semi-prehensile and help balance them as they walk along the ground, but can also anchor them if they climb into tree, which they only occasionally. They have the thickest tail of all the Asian species.

 

Okay. I’m going to continue and take us into our four African species. Let’s start with the Tree or White-bellied pangolin. This is one of my very favorite tails. 

 

Cheryl: (laughs)

 

Kiersten: I know its a weird thing to say, but it’s true! 

 

This pangolin’s tail is 30-52 cm or 12-20 inches long. They have 34-37 scales along the edge of the tail. Like the Philippine and Sunda pangolin, the Tree pangolin’s tail is fully prehensile, but it has another very cool adaptation at the end of their tail, a scale-free pad at the tip of the tail. This gives them a better grasping ability which allows them to pick up things with their tail like a human hand and gives them an even tighter, more secure hold on tree branches. 

 

 

Cheryl: That is very interesting. Cool little guys!

 

Next is the Giant ground pangolin. This is the largest of all the pangolin species and its tail holds true to their size with a length of 50-65 cm or 20-26 inches. 

Wow! That’s a long tail.

 

Kiersten: It is!

 

Cheryl: They have 15-19 scales along the edge of the tail and their tails are only partially prehensile. They generally use their tails mainly as a counterbalance  while walking and digging.

 

So, prehensile is just so it gives them more flexibility when they need balance.

 

Kiersten:  Yes, I believe so. They could if they ever needed to hold onto a bush or something they could give themselves a little curvature. But mainly theirs is for counterbalance.

 

Our third African pangolin is the Cape pangolin. They have a tail length of 31-50 cm or 12-20 inches. They have 11-13 scales along the edge. Like the Giant ground pangolin, the Cape pangolin’s tail is partially prehensile. The Cape pangolin is the pangolin species that walks bipedal most often, which mean they only use two feet as they walk. The Cape pangolin will use its tail to counter balance with the front of the body so they don’t tip over as they walk. 

 

Cheryl: (laughs)

 

Kiersten: They look very cute. They look like little dinosaurs.

 

Cheryl: I’m sure they do. 

 

Our final African pangolin is the Black-bellied Tree pangolin, ( I like to say that! Black-bellied tree  pangolin) also known as the Long-tailed pangolin. As their names implies, they have a very long tail with a length of 50-60cm or 20-24 inches. They have 42-44 scales along the edge of the tail. It is fully prehensile with the same unscaled pad at the tip that the White-bellied pangolin has, which is especially useful to them because the Black-bellied pangolin spends their entire lives in trees. They have the longest tail of all the pangolin species. Wow! Their entire life in trees.

 

Kiersten: I discovered a fun fact while researching this podcast and I want to share it with you. The Long-tailed pangolin has more vertebrae in the tail than we have in our entire body! Humans have 33 vertebrae from head to tail bone and the long-tailed pangolin has 47 vertebrae just in their tail! They have 75 vertebrae in total! That’s a lot of vertebrae!

 

Cheryl: That IS a lot of vertebrae. Speaking of vertebrae, did you hear about the pangolin fossil they found in Europe? How often do you get to say that sentence!?

 

Kiersten: Right! I know!

 

I did! Researchers found a bone fossil that dates back to the early Pleistocene era in Europe. It’s just one bone, the humerus or upper arm bone, but its accepted proof that pangolins used to roam the landscape of Europe. It was 2.2 million years ago but they were there! (Laughs)

 

Well, that’s it for pangolin tails. Thank you Cheryl for joining me as co-host.

 

Cheryl: Well, thank you again for having me. It was fun and I love pangolins too!

 

Kiersten: I hope you all enjoyed learning about pangolin tails because it is my ninth favorite thing about pangolins.

 

Please visit savepangolins.org to find out even more about pangolins and discover what you can do to save this unique animal. To help the African Cape Pangolin visit the Rare and Endangered Species Trust at restnamibia.org and to learn more about Asian pangolins and help the Sunda and Chinese pangolin visit Save Vietnam’s Wildlife at svw.vn. 

 

Join me next week for the last ten-minute podcast focusing on pangolins. 

 

(Piano Music plays) 

 

This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.