Three Cusped Pangolin Skull Replica measures 3 inches. Three Cusped Pangolin Skull Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw). Known as Tree Pangolin.
Three Cusped Pangolin or Tree pangolin is one of eight extant species of pangolins (“scaly anteaters”), and is native to equatorial Africa. Also known as the white-bellied pangolin, it is the most common of the African forest pangolins.
The Three Cusped Pangolin eats insects such as ants and termites from their nests, or the armies of insects moving on the trees.
This form of diet is called myrmecophagy. It relies on its thick skin for protection, and digs into burrows with its long, clawed forefeet.
It eats between 5 and 7 ounces of insects a day. The Three Cusped Pangolin uses its 10 to 27 inch tongue which is coated with gummy alkaline mucus to funnel the insects into its mouth.
The tongue is actually attached to the end of the xiphoid process of the sternum in the abdominal cavity.
The Three Cusped Pangolin or Tree pangolin is subject to widespread and often intensive exploitation for bushmeat and traditional medicine, and is by far the most common of the pangolins found in African bushmeat markets.
Conservationists believe this species underwent a decline of 20–25% between 1993 and 2008 (three pangolin generations) due mainly to the impact of the bushmeat hunting.
It continues to be harvested at unsustainable levels in some of its range. Its conservation status has been progressively elevated over time, from “Least Concern” in 1996 to Endangered.
Endangered species, as classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), are species which have been categorized as very likely to become extinct in their known native ranges in the near future.
On the IUCN Red List, endangered is the second-most severe conservation status for wild populations in the IUCN’s schema after critically endangered.