Page 6 - Gateways_2017_Summer

News Bites
The latest noteworthy news from
around Brookfield Zoo and beyond
the gates is right at your fingertips.
JUST New Addition
ARRIVED
First. Time. Ever. Those are exciting words to say when
they refer to an amazing new species at Brookfield Zoo.
Insect-eating animals are all different shapes, sizes, and
degrees of fuzziness—anteaters and echidnas have called
the zoo home for decades—but a male white-bellied
pangolin is now living in Habitat Africa! The Forest.
Like all pangolins—four species are native to Africa and
four to Asia—he is one of the strangest-looking animals
on the planet. These animals are often called “scaly
anteaters,” but they aren’t anteaters. They do have scales, mounds for mouthwatering insect meals.
though. Their scales are made of keratin, just like human
nails and hair are. When threatened, pangolins roll into a
ball, with their scales acting as a protective shell.
6 GATEWAYS | NEWS BITES
AWPAFHRNIIGTCEOA-LNBIENLLIED
Solitary animals, pangolins come together only to mate.
Like other mammals, females give birth to live offspring.
Babies cling to their mother’s back for the first three to
four months of life, relying on her for food and protection.
After about five months, young leave their mother’s care
to begin life on their own.
Pangolins can walk on all four legs, or they can climb
trees with the assistance of their prehensile (gripping)
tail. Thanks to their tail, they can even climb trees without
branches, making it easier for them to find insects hidden
in treetops. Their long claws help them dig up termite
Our thanks go to Barbara Levy Kipper for her support
of our new pangolin care program.