Neither the pangolin nor the echidna is a true anteater. Pangolins live in Asia and Africa; echidnas live in Australia and New Guinea. True anteaters live in the Americas, and there are four extant species: the giant anteater, the silky anteater, the southern tamandua and the northern tamandua.
The four known species of echidna (short–beaked, long–beaked, Sir David's long–beaked, and Western long–beaked) are four of the five kinds of monotreme – the fifth being the platypus. Commonly known as egg–laying mammals, the monotremes are also distinguished from other mammals by structural differences in their brains, jaws, digestive tract, reproductive tract, and other body parts.
The pangolin is the only mammal that's known to have large, protective keratin scales covering its skin.
© Haydn Thompson 2017