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Tree pangolin
	In Nyamebe Bepo Forest Reserve, Ashanti Region, Ghana
Conservation status
	; Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
	CITES Appendix I (CITES)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Pholidota
Family:	Manidae
Genus:	Phataginus
Species:	P. tricuspis
Binomial name
	Phataginus tricuspis; (Rafinesque, 1821)
	Distribution of the tree pangolin

The tree pangolin^[4] (Phataginus tricuspis) is one of eight extant species of pangolins ("scaly anteaters"), and is native to equatorial Africa. Also known as the white-bellied pangolin or three-cusped pangolin, it is the most common of the African forest pangolins.

Description

Phataginus tricuspis is a relatively small pangolin. The combined head and body length is 33–43 cm (13–17 in). The tail is 49–62 cm (19–24 in). Each dark brown to brownish yellow scale has three points, to which the specific name tricuspis refers. These scales cover the whole body besides the face, underbelly, and insides of the legs.^[5] The scales are made of keratin, as are human fingernails, and are anchored at the base to the pangolin's skin. The head is small, and the snout is elongated. The feet are short, and each foot has five long curved claws.

Taxonomy

The tree pangolin had belonged to the genus Manis and subgenus Phataginus before Phataginus was elevated to generic status.^[3] Two subspecies were recognized in 1972 by Meester:

P. t. tricuspis^[6]
P. t. mabirae^[7] (Uganda)

The tree pangolins, along with the Long-tailed pangolins, make up the genus Phataginus (the African Tree Pangolins).^[8] This makes Phataginus tetradactyla the closest relative to Phataginus tricuspis.

Range and habitat

The tree pangolin ranges from Guinea through Sierra Leone and much of West Africa to Central Africa as far east as extreme southwestern Kenya and northwestern Tanzania. To the south, it extends to northern Angola and northwestern Zambia. It has been found on the Atlantic island of Bioko, but no records confirm a presence in Senegal, Gambia, or Guinea-Bissau.^[8]

The tree pangolin is semiarboreal and generally nocturnal. It is found in lowland tropical moist forests (both primary and secondary), as well as savanna/forest mosaics. It probably adapts to some degree to habitat modification, such as commercial plantations, as it favours cultivated and fallow land where it is not aggressively hunted (e.g., abandoned or little-used oil palm trees in secondary growth).^[9]

Behavior

The tree pangolin can walk on all fours or on its hind legs using its prehensile tail for balance. It can climb up trees in the absence of branches. When walking on all fours, it walks on its front knuckles with its claws tucked underneath to protect them from wearing down. Its anal scent glands disperse a foul secretion much like a skunk when threatened. It has a well-developed sense of smell, but as a nocturnal animal, it has poor eyesight. Instead of teeth, it has a gizzard-like stomach full of stones and sand it ingests. The tree pangolin in Africa fills its stomach with air before entering water to aid in buoyancy for well-developed swimming.

The tree pangolin has many adaptations. When threatened, it rolls up into a ball ("volvation"), protecting itself with its thick skin and scales. Its scales cover its entire body except for the belly, snout, eyes, ears, and undersides of the limbs. When a mother with young is threatened, she rolls up around the young, which also roll into a ball (Liu et.al, 2016). While in a ball, she can extend her scales and make a cutting action by using muscles to move the scales back and forth. She makes an aggressive huff noise when threatened, but that is the extent of her noise-making.

Diet

The tree pangolin eats insects such as ants and termites from their nests, or the armies of insects moving on the trees. This form of diet is called myrmecophagy. It relies on its thick skin for protection, and digs into burrows with its long, clawed forefeet. It eats between 5 and 7 ounces (150 to 200 g) of insects a day. The pangolin uses its 10- to 27-in (250- to 700-mm) tongue which is coated with gummy alkaline mucus to funnel the insects into its mouth. The base of the tongue is attached to the end of the xiphoid process of the sternum in the abdominal cavity.^[9]

Reproduction

Female pangolin territories are solitary and small, less than 10 acres (4 ha), and they rarely overlap. Males have larger territories, up to 60 acres (24 ha), which overlap many female territories, resulting in male/female meetings. Pangolins can demonstrate their availability through feces and urine markings as well as by spreading the scent produced by their anal glands. The meetings between males and females are brief unless the female is in estrus, when mating occurs. Gestation of young lasts 150 days, and one young per birth is normal. The young pangolin cannot walk at birth so it is carried on its mother's tail. It is weaned after three months, but it remains with its mother for five months in total. At first, the newborn's scales are soft, but, after a few days, they start to harden.^[10]

Use by humans

The tree pangolin is subject to widespread and often intensive exploitation for bushmeat and traditional medicine, and is by far the most common of the pangolins found in African bushmeat markets. Conservationists believe this species underwent a decline of 20–25% between 1993 and 2008 (three pangolin generations) due mainly to the impact of the bushmeat hunting. They assert it continues to be harvested at unsustainable levels in some of its range. Its conservation status has been progressively elevated over time, from "Least Concern" in 1996 to "Endangered" by 2019.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Pietersen, D.; Moumbolou, C.; Ingram, D.J.; Soewu, D.; Jansen, R.; Sodeinde, O.; Keboy Mov Linkey Iflankoy, C.; Challender, D.; Shirley, M.H. (2019). "Phataginus tricuspis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T12767A123586469. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T12767A123586469.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
^ ^a ^b Gaudin, Timothy (28 August 2009). "The Phylogeny of Living and Extinct Pangolins (Mammalia, Pholidota) and Associated Taxa: A Morphology Based Analysis" (PDF). Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 16 (4): 235–305. doi:10.1007/s10914-009-9119-9. S2CID 1773698. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
^ "Figure 7—figure supplement 1. In vitro translation of HRT1, HRT2, HRBP and REF". doi:10.7554/elife.19022.019. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
^ James Andrews. "Manis tricuspis (tree pangolin)". Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
^ Rafinesque CS (1821). Ann. Sci. Phys. Brux. 7: 215. (Obsolete synonyms: M. multiscutata Gray, 1843; M. tridentata Focillon, 1850).
^ Allen and Loveridge, 1942
^ ^a ^b "Genus Phataginus Tree Pangolins", Mammals of Africa : Carnivores, Pangolins, Equids and Rhinoceroses, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013, doi:10.5040/9781472926951.part-0072, ISBN 978-1-4729-2695-1, retrieved 26 November 2022
^ ^a ^b Jansen, Raymond; Sodeinde, Olufemi; Soewu, Durojaye; Pietersen, Darren W.; Alempijevic, Daniel; Ingram, Daniel J. (1 January 2020), Challender, Daniel W. S.; Nash, Helen C.; Waterman, Carly (eds.), "Chapter 9 - White-bellied pangolin Phataginus tricuspis (Rafinesque, 1820)", Pangolins, Biodiversity of World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes, Academic Press, pp. 139–156, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-815507-3.00009-5, ISBN 978-0-12-815507-3, S2CID 214079713, retrieved 26 November 2022
^ "Tree Pangolin | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants". animals.sandiegozoo.org. Retrieved 26 November 2022.