Sunda Pangolin
Manis javanica
Summary 3
The Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica), also known as the Malayan or Javan pangolin, is a species of pangolins found in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Indonesia (Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Lesser Sunda Islands), the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and Malaysia and Singapore. These pangolins are found in Southeast Asia’s forested habitats (primarily, secondary, scrub forest) and plantations (rubber, palm oil). Mostly, they spend time within trees, resting or searching food.
Habitat 4
Malayan pangolins inhabit a variety of landscapes, including primary and secondary forests, open savannah country, and areas vegetated with thick bush. They often observed in cultivated areas such as gardens and plantations. Although they are terrestrial creatures that inhabit burrows, either excavated with their huge claws or borrowed from previous residents, they are known to be agile climbers and spend time within trees resting or searching for food.
Habitat Regions: tropical
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest
Other Habitat Features: agricultural
Physical description 5
Malayan pangolins are strikingly unique creatures, whose coat of movable and sharp-tipped scales are reminiscent of descriptions of a dragon's armor or "living pine cones" as they are nicknamed. They are 79-88 cm long, including the tail, and males are typically larger than females. They are covered from just above the nostrils to the tips of their tails by many rows of overlapping scales (17-19 rows on midsection and >20 rows along tail) . The scales on the back and sides are olive-brown to yellowish and hard. These scales are derived from hairs. The underbelly and face are covered in whitish to pale-brown hair, and the skin is gray to bluish.
Males are larger than females. The species has a small conical head with small eyes that are protected by thick eyelids. The external ear parts are greatly reduced. The nose is fleshy, and the mouth lacks teeth. They have extremly long, thin tongues, capable of extending about 25 cm, which covered with a sticky saliva. This helps them collect termites and ants. They have significant adaptations to account for their enormous tongue which passes through the chest cavity and anchors to the pelvis. These include lack of a clavicle, and and odd structure of their xiphisternum (Nowak, 1999). They are pentadactylous; their forefeet are equipt with pads on the soles, large digging claws and are longer and stronger than their hindfeet. Malayan pangolins have prehensile tails and can close their nostril and ear openings.
Range length: 79 to 88 cm.
Sexual Dimorphism: male larger
Fuentes y créditos
- (c) Firman, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY), subido por Firman
- (c) Piekfrosch, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pangolin_borneo.jpg
- Adaptado por Brian Martin del trabajo de (c) Wikipedia, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manis_javanica
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/18656929
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/18656930
