Published: June 18, 2025
Every field guide gives the same line: pangolins eat ants and termites. That is true as far as it goes, but it tells you almost nothing about the precision, adaptability, and biological complexity that underlie how these animals actually locate, select, and process their food. Pangolin feeding biology is one of the most specialised dietary systems among mammals, shaped by millions of years of co-evolution with colonial insects. Understanding it matters both for conservation and for the persistent failures of captive management programmes around the world.
There are eight living pangolin species, and while all are myrmecophages (insect eaters specialising in ants and termites), their prey preferences differ substantially. The Temminck's ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii), widespread across sub-Saharan Africa including South Africa's Limpopo and North West provinces, shows a strong preference for subterranean termite species, particularly Trinervitermes mound builders and Microhodotermes harvester termites. It tends to avoid mature, well-defended colonies in favour of satellite nests and recently established mounds where soldier-to-worker ratios are lower.
The white-bellied tree pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) of Central and West Africa forages almost entirely in the arboreal zone, targeting ants that nest within dead wood and beneath bark. Its limb morphology and prehensile tail reflect a body plan optimised for this vertical environment rather than soil excavation.
Asian species show similarly distinct preferences. The Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) has been recorded consuming over 30 species of ants and termites across its range, but population-level studies show individual animals returning repeatedly to the same colony types, suggesting learned or early-imprinted prey preferences. The Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) favours subterranean ant nests in agricultural margins and shows measurable seasonal shifts in prey type as ant species cycles through reproductive phases.
Pangolins locate prey largely through olfaction. Their olfactory bulbs are proportionally enlarged relative to overall brain mass, and behavioural studies confirm that blindfolded captive animals locate buried insect colonies with high accuracy while failing to locate colonies when their nostrils are experimentally occluded.
The volatile compounds pangolins detect include trail pheromones, alarm chemicals (particularly formic acid from formicine ants), terpene compounds released by disturbed termite galleries, and carbon dioxide gradients from active colonies. Foraging pangolins sweep their snout in lateral arcs 5 to 20 centimetres above the soil surface, pausing to sample air pockets associated with underground passages. They can locate active galleries beneath 10 to 15 centimetres of compacted soil before breaking through with their forelimbs.
This chemical sensitivity also governs prey rejection. Pangolins consistently avoid colonies of highly aggressive ant species such as Dorylus driver ants and heavily tannin-producing termite species. The avoidance appears chemically mediated rather than learned through trial injury, suggesting innate aversion responses calibrated to specific chemical signatures.
The pangolin tongue is the most structurally unusual feeding apparatus among terrestrial mammals. It is not attached at the base of the mouth in the conventional mammalian arrangement. Instead, the tongue's muscular root extends down the throat and attaches near the xiphoid process of the sternum, or in some large individuals, extends into the abdominal cavity alongside the stomach. This anatomical arrangement allows total tongue extension that equals or exceeds total body length.
In a large Temminck's ground pangolin with a body length of 55 centimetres, the tongue may extend 40 centimetres beyond the snout tip. Retraction is driven by paired retractor muscles that coil the tongue into a reservoir near the stomach during withdrawal. Extension and retraction can cycle at 90 to 160 times per minute during active foraging in a productive colony.
The tongue surface is coated with a thick, viscous mucus produced by enlarged submandibular and sublingual salivary glands. This mucus is not adhesive in the conventional sense but functions as a high-viscosity trapping medium. Surface tension and entanglement within the mucus matrix capture insects on contact. Pangolins lack teeth entirely, so captured insects pass directly to the stomach, where a thick muscular gizzard-like region with ingested grit performs mechanical breakdown analogous to the grinding function of teeth.
Pangolins employ two distinct foraging strategies that vary by target colony type. Mound foraging involves breaking open above-ground termite mounds, particularly the hard-cemented constructions of Macrotermes and Trinervitermes. The pangolin uses its powerful forelimbs and curved claws to breach the mound wall, inserts its tongue into the exposed galleries, and withdraws insects in bursts before the colony's soldier caste can mount a coordinated chemical defence.
Nest raiding describes the excavation of subterranean ant and termite galleries. Here the pangolin digs a conical entry shaft aligned to the gallery axis, exposing the maximum gallery length with minimum excavation. Studies using GPS telemetry in South Africa's Tswalu Kalahari Reserve have documented individual pangolins visiting 30 to 50 foraging sites per night, spending an average of 2 to 8 minutes at each site, a pattern consistent with optimal foraging theory models that predict departure from a patch when marginal return falls below the average return from the habitat overall.
Pangolins also exploit nest abandonment. After a raiding event, a colony relocates or builds repair galleries. The pangolin may return to the same mound site multiple times across a season, timing revisits to allow partial colony recovery, effectively managing its food patches in a manner analogous to rotational grazing.
In seasonal environments such as the South African savanna, prey availability fluctuates significantly across the annual cycle. During the wet season, termite and ant colonies are at peak reproductive activity, alate (winged reproductive) forms are abundant near the surface, and foraging success per unit time is high. Pangolins in these periods show broader dietary breadth, opportunistically taking alates, beetle larvae, and other incidental invertebrates encountered during excavation.
In the dry season, colonies contract into deeper subterranean refuges. Pangolins shift to targeting mound structures where residual colony activity concentrates. Foraging range expands, and nightly travel distances increase. Body condition data from rehabilitated Temminck's ground pangolins in South Africa show measurable fat reserve depletion in late dry season months, confirming that seasonal prey scarcity imposes genuine energetic stress.
Pangolins have resting metabolic rates approximately 50 to 65 percent of what would be predicted for a placental mammal of equivalent body mass. This metabolic depression is an adaptation to a diet that, while protein-rich, is energetically costly to obtain and digest. A 10-kilogram ground pangolin requires roughly 450 to 600 kilocalories per day under field conditions, equivalent to 150 to 200 grams of insects at typical energetic densities of 3 kilocalories per gram for ants and termites.
Scaling these figures across the eight species produces a range of roughly 40 to 55 kilocalories per kilogram body weight per day, substantially lower than the 70 to 100 kilocalorie range typical of similarly sized carnivorous mammals. This efficiency allows pangolins to persist in low-productivity habitats but also means that energetic shortfalls during captivity or illness produce rapid deterioration.
Pangolins have historically been among the most difficult wild mammals to sustain in captivity. Mortality within the first year of captivity has exceeded 70 percent in many holding facilities. Dietary failure is a primary contributor. Pangolins offered uniform commercial insect diets (mealworms, crickets) without chemical variety show appetite suppression, weight loss, and stereotypic behaviours within weeks.
Successful programmes have converged on several practices. Live insects remain preferable to frozen because they retain moisture, volatile compounds, and natural movement cues that stimulate natural feeding behaviour. Gut-loading insects with leafy plant matter, yeast, and mineral supplements before offering them to pangolins substantially improves the nutritional profile of each feeding event. Vitamin E deficiency and zinc imbalance have been identified as specific nutritional deficiencies in captive pangolins that correlate with skin and scale health deterioration.
Rotating insect species across feeding sessions, offering insects in substrate-embedded conditions that require digging, and including nest material from insect colonies as olfactory stimulation have all improved intake and welfare outcomes in facilities in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Thailand. The integration of these approaches has allowed some rehabilitation programmes to achieve sustained weight gain and eventual successful release, though post-release monitoring remains critical to confirm genuine dietary self-sufficiency.
A pangolin's tongue can equal or exceed its body length when fully extended. In large species such as the ground pangolin, the tongue may reach 40 centimetres or more. It is anchored not at the throat but deep in the chest cavity near the sternum, which allows this extraordinary extension.
No. Prey selection varies considerably by species, body size, and habitat. African ground pangolins favour subterranean termite colonies and large Trinervitermes mounds. Tree pangolins specialise in arboreal ant species. Asian species show preferences aligned with locally dominant ant and termite genera. Even within a species, individual pangolins develop site-specific foraging routes and preferred colony types.
Frozen insects lose much of their moisture content and volatile chemical signals that pangolins rely on for appetite stimulation. Gut microbiomes and nutrient profiles also change after freezing. Captive programmes that gut-load live insects with nutritious plant matter and supplement feeds with vitamin E, zinc, and calcium have achieved markedly better health outcomes than programmes relying on frozen or dried insects alone.
Pangolins rely primarily on olfaction. Their olfactory bulbs are proportionally large, and they detect volatile chemical compounds emitted by termite colonies and ant nests. These include trail pheromones, alarm secretions, and soil disturbance gases. Pangolins sweep their snout in arcs close to the ground surface and can locate active galleries beneath compact soil before breaking through with their claws.
Estimates vary by species and body mass. A medium-sized ground pangolin weighing around 10 kg may consume 140 to 200 grams of insects per day, representing roughly 70,000 individual ants or termites. Scaled to body weight this is approximately 15 to 20 grams per kilogram. In high-productivity seasons pangolins can exceed these figures by raiding multiple colonies in a single night.