Three-cusped Pangolin swimming

With its tough, scaly, armoured body, the three-cusped pangolin looks rather incongruous moving about amongst the foliage of tropical forests. However, with its long, prehensile tail which has a bare, sensory pad at the tip, and clawed feet, the three-cusped pangolin is well adapted to scale the trunks and branches of trees.

Brown, sharp-edged, overlapping scales protect the body of the pangolin, which are attached at the base to its thick skin. Each of these artichoke-leaf shaped scales has three points, hence the common and scientific name tricuspis.