The giant pangolin is the largest pangolin in Africa. It is nocturnal, terrestrial and associated with moist areas near water.
Its back scales are arranged regularly. The tip of its tail lacks the climbing pads found in smaller tree-dwelling African pangolins.
In a protected forest–savannah transition area of central Cameroon, researchers recorded giant pangolin resting burrows along line transects and modeled their links with terrain and vegetation. Suitable areas were predicted in patches across dense forest, the forest–grassland edge and savannah, covering 19.24% of the study area.
Important predictors included distance from park boundaries, vegetation greenness, elevation and distance to rivers. One percent of the study area was classified as very suitable. The predicted burrow habitat therefore extended beyond dense forest into the surrounding transition landscape.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The model predicted suitable resting-burrow habitat across forest, transition areas and savannah. The authors suggest using vegetation, rivers, elevation and park-boundary relationships when planning conservation in the study area.