---
title: "Giant Ground Pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "Overlapping keratin scales, a sticky tongue up to 70 centimeters long, and a defensive ball that's next to impossible to pry open."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/giant-ground-pangolin-1.webp"
published: "2026-08-31"
updated: "2026-09-14"
---
# Giant Ground Pangolin (*Smutsia gigantea*)
> **Status**: Checked against 7 sources, listed under Sources below.
> **Tagline**: Overlapping keratin scales, a sticky tongue up to 70 centimeters long, and a defensive ball that's next to impossible to pry open.
> **Soundtrack Vibe**: Saharan Desert Rock & Tuareg Shred // Tinariwen, "Sastanàqqàm"
> **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/5FmPigqSIfk8zr2kx0H4vz) | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vACZA9dGvV4)
> **Vibe Match**: Hypnotic cyclical guitar rhythms, for a pangolin that curls into a tight ball with just its scales showing and, once rolled up, is virtually impossible to uncurl.
## Biological Superpowers & Stats
- **Taxonomy**: *Smutsia gigantea*
- **Danger Level**: Low
- **Conservation Status**: Endangered ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2019-3.rlts.t12762a123584478.en))
- **Superpower**: A sticky tongue up to 70 centimeters long for trapping ants and termites, and a scaly body it rolls into a ball that's next to impossible to uncurl.
- **Habitat**: Rainforest, swamp forest, and wooded savanna across Central and West Africa, preferring moist places close to water
- **Diet**: Ants and termites, dug out of their nests with large, curved front claws
- **Tags**: savanna, rainforest, wetlands, insectivore, nocturnal, burrower, armored
## Natural History & Behavior
## The Biggest Pangolin Alive
The giant pangolin (*Smutsia gigantea*) is the largest living pangolin species. It weighs 30 to 35 kilograms and averages about 1.5 meters long. Its back, tail and the outside of its legs are covered in overlapping grey-brown scales made of keratin, the same material as your fingernails. Its belly has no scales.
If it can't reach its burrow in time, a giant pangolin curls into a tight ball with only its scales showing. Once rolled up, it is virtually impossible to uncurl, and by tightening its muscles it can cause deep cuts with its scales. It can also squirt a foul-smelling liquid from its rear end to drive predators away.
## No Teeth and a Very Long Tongue
Giant pangolins have no teeth and none of the muscles used for chewing. They dig into underground ant and termite nests with three large, curved claws on each front foot. Then they trap the insects on a tongue up to 70 centimeters long, coated in sticky saliva. A hard, layered lining in the stomach crushes the insects' tough outer skeletons.
> **Where the Tongue Goes** Pulled back in, a giant pangolin's tongue runs beneath its chest and windpipe all the way down to its abdomen. Part of it folds into the neck, leaving a bulge on the outside.
It lives only where ants and termites, its only food, are available all year round. Its home is rainforest, swamp forest and wooded savanna across Central and West Africa, and it prefers moist places close to water. It digs its own burrows, which can be several meters deep, or moves into ones another animal has abandoned. It sleeps there through the day, forages alone at night and never climbs trees.
## Rare, Hunted and Still Turning Up
Poaching (illegal hunting) and habitat loss are causing severe population declines. Giant pangolins are thought to be extinct in Rwanda, and scientists have projected they could vanish from some countries within two decades, even with no further habitat loss. Pangolins are thought to be among the most trafficked mammals in the world, mainly for their meat and for scales used in traditional medicine. The species also remains poorly studied, with big gaps in basic facts about its biology.
Even so, it is still being found. In 2018, three separate records placed giant pangolins in the mountain forests of western Kenya, about 500 kilometers east of the nearest confirmed population in Uganda. In 2023, camera traps (cameras that fire automatically when an animal passes) rediscovered the species in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park, 24 years after its last documented sighting there in 1999.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What are a giant pangolin's scales made of, and how do they protect it?
The scales are made of keratinized skin cells, the same material as claws and hair. They overlap across its back, tail and the outside of its legs, but its belly and the inside of its legs have none. If it can't reach its burrow in time, the pangolin curls into a tight ball with only its scales showing, and once rolled up it is virtually impossible to uncurl. By tightening its muscles it can cause deep cuts with its scales, and it can also squirt a foul-smelling liquid from its rear end to drive predators away. *(Source: [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan]())*
### How does a giant pangolin eat without any teeth?
It has no teeth, and it lacks the muscles used for chewing and biting. Instead, it digs into underground ant and termite nests with three large, curved claws on each front foot, then traps the insects on a tongue up to 70 centimeters long, coated in sticky saliva. Pulled back in, the tongue runs beneath its chest all the way down to its abdomen. A hard, layered lining in its stomach crushes the insects' tough outer skeletons. *(Source: [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan]())*
### What does a giant pangolin use its front claws for?
Digging. Each front foot has three large claws that curve outward to help it dig. It digs into underground ant and termite nests to feed, and it digs its own burrows, which can be several meters deep. Despite living in and around forests, it never climbs trees. *(Source: [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan]())*
### Why is the giant pangolin in so much trouble?
Like all pangolins, it is hunted for bushmeat and for its scales, which are used in traditional medicine in Africa and East Asia. Pangolins are thought to be among the most trafficked mammals in the world, and a 2017 study cited estimates of more than 10,000 traded illegally each year. In that study's DNA tests of scales from a three-tonne seizure in Hong Kong, giant pangolin turned up in only one of the 10 bags sampled. The authors note the species has also been reported to be rare. *(Source: [Mwale et al. 2017]())*
## Sources
1. [Manis gigantea (giant pangolin). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.]()
2. [Giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea). IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group.]()
3. [Nixon et al. (2019). Smutsia gigantea. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T12762A123584478.]()
4. [Mwale et al. (2017). Forensic application of DNA barcoding for identification of illegally traded African pangolin scales. Genome.]()
5. [Montblanc et al. (2026). First hematological and biochemical findings in a rehabilitated giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) from Southern Cameroon. Frontiers in Veterinary Science.]()
6. [Sandri et al. (2022). Three spatially separate records confirm the presence of and provide a range extension for the giant pangolin Smutsia gigantea in Kenya. Oryx.]()
7. [Ndiaye et al. (2024). Rediscovery of the endangered giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) in Senegal after 24 years. African Journal of Ecology.]()
*Published August 31, 2026. Last updated September 14, 2026.*
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