ANIMAL THAT GOES GYMNASTICS

Evening Star, Issue 22596, 13 March 1937, Page 8

ANIMAL THAT GOES GYMNASTICS

The armadillo, with its coat of mail, is a strange animal; but even stranger is the pangolin, sometimes called the scaly ant-eater, which has been likened to an animated fir cone famished with a head and legs. The animal is confined to the Old World, but is found in both the south-

ern half of Africa and South-eastern Asia. The African pangolins are the larger, and their bodies are completely covered with scales to the very tips of their long tapering tails. The tail is nearly twice as long as the body, and with it the animal is able to perform some remarkable gymnastics. It can hold on to a tree with its hind legs, and, steadying itself with its tail, support its body almost horizontally with ease. This is a favourite attitude with the animal. It spends a good_ deal of its time in trees, but burrows in hard, stony ground for the ants and termites on which it feeds. If danger approaches, the pangolin rolls itself up into a ball, and so great is its muscular strength that it is practically impossible to unroll it. A captive pangolin kept as a pet used to climb up a post, roll itself into a ball and then throw itself down, on the ground without apparently suffering any inconvenience.