Pangolin Curls Up Into a Ball Like a Pill-Bug to Nullify a Lion Pride’s Attack

Pangolin Shows Off Its Scaly Defense to Avoid Becoming a Lion Pride’s Dinner!

In the heart-gripping and impressive video at the top of the page, a pangolin shows off how its defense works! The video begins with the pangolin already curled into a tight ball and a lioness on top of it. The lioness continues to sniff and investigate the pangolin as a nearby young male lion joins. The entire lion pride seems pretty calm, clearly not in a desperate need for food. This might be the pangolin’s saving grace, as the big cats don’t seem to be much more than curious. The young male lion stays interested longer than the lioness, and as she leaves he intensifies his harassment. 

The pangolin stays strong, refusing to be flipped over and repelling every effort from the lion. The video cuts to when the lion’s have left the pangolin alone, and it begins to uncurl to try escaping. But once it starts moving, the lionesses still lingering nearby suddenly shoot up at attention! After a moment, a pair of the lions rushes to attack the pangolin again. But they’re too slow, and just as the lions pounce on the pangolin it’s in defense mode! Dropping down onto one side and curling its long scaly tail to cover its stomach, its impenetrable again!

One of the two lionesses stays persistent though, and tries biting down on the edge of the pangolin’s protective shell. Trying a new strategy to pry open the scaly shell layer, it proves as ineffective as the last! The lioness drags the pangolin right back to the spot it originally laid, as if refusing to give up a toy! Each time the pangolin moves a bit to try escaping, the lions just pounce on it again. But they never manage to actually break past the pangolin’s defenses. Eventually they get bored, and the lions leave the poor pangolin alone. Finally, it finds an opening and escapes away from the big cat bullies!

Are Pangolins the Only Mammals With Scales?

Pangolins are far and away the only mammal with scales that give it an almost reptilian appearance. Other scaled mammals do exist though, just at slightly less intense levels. One example is the armadillo, another mammal with protective bony armor. Technically, the armadillo has bony plates under its skin with small overlapping scales on top.

Another example of a very different scaled mammal is the scaly-tailed flying squirrel. This incredibly unique species boasts an adaptation straight out of a sci-fi world. Its long tail features super unique tail scales, which aid in gliding through the air. Knowing that mammals have individually adapted to have different types of scales independent of scaled reptiles and even each other is just amazing! Pangolins are still the only mammal that have such large scales though. Unfortunately, this unique adaptation also makes them the target of poachers, making them the most trafficked animal in the world.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Vickey Chauhan/Shutterstock.com