Pangolin vs. armadillo

Let’s compare the pangolin vs. the armadillo, anteater, porcupine, and echidna to discover their shared characteristics and convergent evolution, as we uncover what makes pangolins so unique.

How to identify a pangolin

Before we can compare pangolins vs. anteaters or any other animal, let’s determine what a pangolin actually is. 

There are eight pangolin species living across Africa and Asia. They can be found in a wide variety of habitats with reliable supplies of ants and termites, including tropical forests, swamps, thick brush, savannah grasslands, and oil palm plantations.

The easiest way to identify these extraordinary mammals is by their unique, brownish keratin scales, which cover their entire bodies, except for the sides of their faces and their underbellies. They’re the only mammals in the world with this feature.

You can also recognise pangolins by their short, conical heads, their elongated snouts, their long, sticky tongues, their five-toed feet with sharp claws, and their prehensile tails. If you can catch a glimpse of their mouths, you might also notice that they don’t have teeth.

How to distinguish a pangolin from similar-looking animals

Pangolins were originally thought to be related to anteaters and armadillos because they look a bit like the anteaters of South America. They’re also often confused with porcupines and echidnas. However, none of these animals are related. 

The table below summarises the key differences between pangolins vs. armadillos, anteaters, porcupines, and echidnas.

Let’s explore these differences in more detail.

Pangolin vs. armadillo

Pangolins, which get their name from the Ancient Greek word meaning ‘clad in scales’, are often confused with armadillos, known as the ‘little armoured ones’ in Spanish — and, based on their names and similar appearances, it's easy to see why they might be. 

But they actually have several distinct features. Key differences found when comparing pangolins vs. armadillos include:

• Their armour: Pangolins boast flexible, overlapping scales made of keratin (the same protein found in human fingernails and hair), whereas armadillos have a set of plates called the carapace. These are made of bone and covered with tough keratinous scutes.
• Their defensive behaviour: While all eight species of pangolins curl into a ball to protect their soft underbellies and present erect scales to an enemy, only the three-banded armadillo acts similarly. Most armadillo species run away, burrow, or claw attackers.
• Their habitat: While both animals can be found in grasslands and forests, Pangolins live across Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, armadillos are found mainly in Central and South America. Armadillos also exclusively live in burrows, whereas some pangolins live in trees.
• Their diet and eating habits: Both pangolins and armadillos eat ants, termites, and larvae, but while armadillos have teeth to chew their food, pangolins have to swallow small stones (known as gastroliths) to grind food. Pangolins also have distinctive, long, sticky tongues to catch these insects, whereas armadillos have to dig and root to find food.
• Their threats: Habitat loss and fragmentation due to deforestation, land use change, and agriculture are the main threats to armadillos. Pangolins are also threatened by habitat loss, but the illegal wildlife trade and traditional medicine are their biggest threats.

Pangolin vs. anteater

Pangolins are sometimes called ‘scaly anteaters’ because they share a similar diet and adaptations. They’re both strictly insectivorous, meaning they exclusively eat ants and termites. They also both have elongated skulls, large claws, no teeth, and long, sticky tongues (though an anteater’s can be up to 60cm long, while a pangolin’s is only 25cm).

However, the similarities between pangolins vs. anteaters end there. Anteaters are covered in coarse fur rather than scales, live in South and Central America, not Africa and Asia, and are closely related to sloths and armadillos rather than to cats, dogs, and bears.

Porcupine vs. pangolin

The most striking similarity between porcupines vs. pangolins is their defence mechanism. When threatened, both curl up into a ball to protect their soft underbellies and present erect, keratin-based ‘armour’ to their enemy. However, a pangolin’s armour consists of scales, while a porcupine’s includes over 30,000 quills.

Old World porcupines share similar territory to pangolins, as both are found in Africa and Asia. However, these porcupines also inhabit Europe, and New World porcupines live in North and South America.

The biggest difference between porcupines vs. pangolins is their diet. The former are herbivorous and feed on plants, fruits, leaves, roots, and bulbs, while the latter are insectivores.

Echidna vs. pangolin

If you compare echidnas vs. pangolins, you’ll notice that both are mammals that eat an insect-based diet. They share other key traits, such as their long, sticky tongues, strong digging claws, and lack of teeth, but they also have important biological differences.

• Their reproduction: Pangolins give birth to live young, whereas echidnas are monotremes or egg-laying mammals.
• Their habitat: Pangolins live in Africa and Asia, while echidnas can be found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea.
• Their appearance: Pangolins have scales, short, conical heads, and elongated snouts. These contrast with echidnas’ spines and tubular beaks.
• Their ancestry: Echidnas are closely related to the platypus (the only other monotreme mammal), while pangolins are more closely related to cats, dogs, and bears.

Why pangolins are unique

Comparing pangolins vs. armadillos, anteaters, porcupines, and echidnas reveals that these animals share many physical and dietary characteristics.

However, pangolins are unique in two important ways:

1. Pangolins are the only mammal in the world to boast an armour of keratin scales.
2. Pangolins are the most trafficked mammal in the world, targeted for their scales.

Sadly, demand for pangolin scales in traditional medicine continues to drive poaching and trafficking across the globe, with around 8.5 million pangolins lost to the illegal wildlife trade in recent years.

At World Animal Protection, we are working to end this exploitation and protect pangolins.

How to help protect pangolins

You can help us protect pangolins by supporting our efforts to end demand for pangolin scales in traditional medicine. Help us promote wildlife-friendly alternatives and join our calls for stronger laws to tackle illegal wildlife trade. Together, we can protect pangolins.

Donate to World Animal Protection today.