The pangolin's body is covered with large, flat, imbricated horny scales; it somewhat resembles the New World armadillo in terms of its feeding habits and its employment of a curled up, hedgehog-like defensive posture. It has a long sticky tongue which it uses to gather termites and ants.

The pangolin is also called scaly anteater, any of the armored placental mammals of the order Pholidota. Pangolin, from the Malayan meaning "rolling over," refers to this animal's habit of curling into a ball when threatened. About eight species of pangolins, usually considered to be of the genus Manis, family Manidae, are found in tropical Asia.