Rabia Yaseen and Maliha Ghaffar

This overview clarifies the facts about pangolins, which are nocturnal, toothless, timid, non-aggressive, burrowing creatures with a full body coated in hard, protective keratin scales. They are members of the Pholidota order and the Mandela family. Pangolins immediately coil into a tough ball and utilized their scales as a protective shield when they feel threatened. They consume termite and ants. In addition to being hosts to endo and ecto parasites, predators of social insects, burrow builders, and prey for other predators, they play a very important role in the ecology. Additionally, the IUCN Red List of Species reports that pangolins have declared as endangered due to deforestation, illegal hunting, mining operations, forest fires, shortage of water supplies, development, and building activities. In traditional Chinese medicine, the scales, blood, and skin of these wild animals are used. Overgrazing, starvation, and killing for their meat—which is considered a delicacy—are other factors. The objective is to deepen our comprehension of how pangolins function as ecosystem engineer.

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