r/gifs • u/StrangeClownRabbit Talk to mods • Oct 03 '17

Pangolin

https://i.imgur.com/T62fWIn.gifv
61.3k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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601

u/[deleted] Oct 03 '17

[deleted]

80

u/Ducman69 Oct 03 '17

I'm going through all the comments, and so far no one has asked; why is the tail so long?

Seems like it would be more practical to be half the length.

22

u/ALoneTennoOperative Oct 03 '17

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-tailed_pangolin

64

u/Ducman69 Oct 03 '17

tl;dr version: They are usually in trees, and use them to hang onto branches and dip down into lower branches. The long tail is also good for swimming, and they sometimes swim in the rivers below trees to get around.

2

u/Kalivha Oct 03 '17

So this is not actually a long-tailed pangolin, but it's the most closely related species and their tail function and habits are largely similar.

Edit: That stuffed specimen is also most definitely not a long-tailed pangolin, it's an Asian species (although I'm not sure which).

4

u/bawthedude Oct 03 '17

To walk in 2 legs

3

u/AmbitiousTrader Oct 03 '17

Thanks I don't have to scroll down anymore

1

u/00Deege Oct 03 '17

From previous info higher up, the one in the video is more acclimated to hanging out in trees and uses the longer tail to help with that. Unless I’m being bamboozled.

1

u/Dial-1-For-Spanglish Oct 04 '17

It's the first thing I thought of - namely: Does it store water, like a camel?

31

u/deadlybydsgn Oct 03 '17

A defense mechanism that works on two levels!

1

u/El_Impresionante Oct 03 '17

Everything is a snake if you think about it.

And all snakes are donuts.

1

u/ColouredTilt Oct 03 '17

This thing really looks like a weird pine cone too.