Pangolins eat ants and termites, almost exclusively. An adult pangolin consumes an estimated 70 million insects per year, making it one of the most specialized predators on Earth. All eight pangolin species, found across Asia and Africa, share this narrow diet, though the specific ant and termite species they target vary by region and season.
A Diet of Ants and Termites
Pangolins are strict insectivores with a strong preference for certain types of ants and termites. A study of Chinese pangolins in Taiwan identified 62 different prey species in their droppings: 58 ant species and 4 termite species. But pangolins don’t eat all of these equally. A small group of about 11 species made up more than half of what they consumed, while nearly half the prey species showed up in fewer than 1 in 10 samples.
Fungus-growing termites are especially important. One species alone accounted for roughly 41% of the total prey biomass in the Taiwan study. These termites build large underground colonies and cultivate fungus gardens inside their mounds, making them a rich, concentrated food source. After termites, pangolins feed heavily on several ant genera, including species that nest in soil, leaf litter, and trees. The mix shifts with the seasons as different colonies become more or less active.
How Pangolins Find Their Food
Pangolins are nocturnal, and they hunt almost entirely by smell. Research on Sunda pangolins found they could reliably locate hidden food using scent alone but failed when given only visual or sound cues. This makes sense for an animal with small eyes that forages in the dark. Their long, narrow snouts function like scent-tracking instruments, following chemical trails left by ants and termites along the ground to locate nests and colonies.
Once a pangolin finds a nest, it tears it open with powerful front claws that can rip into hard-packed termite mounds and rotted wood. Pangolins tend to establish their burrows near water sources, partly because ant and termite populations are denser in moist soil. The proximity to water also matters because pangolins drink frequently, unlike some desert-adapted insectivores that get all their moisture from food.
A Tongue Built for the Job
Pangolins have no teeth. Instead, they capture prey with an extraordinarily long, sticky tongue that can extend nearly the length of their body. The tongue is coated in thick, tacky saliva, and a pangolin flicks it in and out of insect tunnels rapidly, pulling out dozens of ants or termites with each stroke.
What makes this tongue so unusual is where it’s anchored. Rather than attaching at the back of the mouth like most mammals, the pangolin’s tongue muscles extend deep into the chest and abdomen, tethering to coiled, elongated bones near the sternum. These coiled bones and their surrounding muscles act like a spring-loaded mechanism, helping propel the tongue outward at speed and then retracting it. The entire system functions as a muscular pump, perfectly adapted for raiding narrow insect tunnels that no paw or snout could reach.
Digesting Without Teeth
Since pangolins swallow their food whole, digestion happens in a muscular, gizzard-like stomach. The stomach lining has horn-like ridges that crush and grind insects mechanically. Pangolins also deliberately swallow small rocks and pebbles, called gastroliths, which sit in the stomach and help pulverize the tough exoskeletons of ants and termites. It’s the same strategy used by crocodiles and some birds. The combination of muscular contractions, internal ridges, and grinding stones breaks down prey that would otherwise pass through largely intact.
Why This Diet Matters for Ecosystems
A single pangolin consuming tens of millions of insects annually has a measurable effect on local termite and ant populations. Pangolins are considered one of the most effective natural controls on forest termite infestations. By keeping colony numbers in check, they help protect trees from structural damage caused by termites boring into wood and roots. Their digging also aerates soil and creates burrows that other small animals use for shelter.
This ecological role is part of what makes pangolin decline so concerning. All eight species are threatened, and removing pangolins from a landscape can lead to unchecked growth of termite populations, with cascading effects on forest health.
Why Captive Feeding Is So Difficult
Pangolins are notoriously hard to keep alive in captivity, and diet is the central challenge. Their digestive systems are so finely tuned to processing live ants and termites that substitute diets rarely provide the right balance of nutrients, and many captive pangolins refuse unfamiliar foods entirely. Zoos and rescue centers have experimented with various insect-based formulas, but replicating the nutritional profile of dozens of wild ant and termite species, each with different fat, protein, and chitin content, remains an unsolved problem. This dietary specialization is one reason pangolin conservation depends so heavily on protecting wild habitat rather than relying on captive breeding programs.