"How big is a pangolin?" has no single answer, because the eight species span a remarkable range — from an animal you could hold in two hands to one the size of a large dog. And the question people really want answered is the tongue: yes, in the biggest species it really is longer than the body. Here are the measurements that matter.
How big is a pangolin?
Across the eight species, head-and-body length runs roughly 30 to 90 cm, with a long tail on top of that. Weight is where the species diverge most: the smallest, Africa's black-bellied (long-tailed) pangolin, is around 1.6 kg, while the giant ground pangolin of Central Africa can reach about 33 kg. The Asian species most affected by trafficking — the Chinese and Sunda pangolins — sit in the middle, typically a few kilograms to around 10 kg.
How long is a pangolin's tongue?
This is the headline feature. A pangolin's tongue can extend to roughly 25 to 40 cm, and in the largest species it is longer than the animal's own head and body combined. The trick is the anchor point: instead of rooting in the mouth, the tongue's base runs deep into the chest, attaching near the last pair of ribs and the pelvis. That gives it the length to probe deep into ant and termite nests.
What about teeth and jaws?
There are none. Pangolins are completely toothless. They swallow grit and small keratin spines that collect in a muscular stomach and grind up the insects — letting them process the roughly 200,000 ants and termites a single animal can eat in a day.
How long do pangolins live?
Lifespan in the wild is essentially unknown, because pangolins are nocturnal, solitary and hard to track. In captivity, individuals have been recorded living up to about 20 years, though pangolins are notoriously difficult to keep alive in human care.
For a full species-by-species table of size, range and status, see our pangolin species guide. Because these animals can't be reliably bred and returned to the wild, WARN's partner work concentrates on protecting the ones still out there.
Read the full Pangolin wildlife guide for the facts, IUCN status and conservation context — or donate to WARN to help fund the local partners protecting this species.
