Giant pangolin, illustration showing tongue and its attachments. The giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) inhabits Africa along the equator from West Africa to Uganda. It is the largest of the pangolins, or scaly anteaters and feeds almost entirely on ants and termites, which it picks up with its specialised sticky tongue. The tongue can be as long as 41 centimetres. It has no teeth, but the strong tongue muscles attach to the a muscular digestive tract, to the sternum, and run deep into the abdomen and pelvis.