Witnessed by: TCM

Pangolin scale (Manis pentadactyla), of the Manidae (Mammalia) family. A nocturnal, burrowing, ant-eating mammal armoured head to tail in overlapping keratin scales, rolling into a ball when seized; native range: the hill forests and scrub of southern China, Taiwan, northern Indochina and the eastern Himalaya; the trade now prohibited. Globally recognized as chuan shan jia (穿山甲), shan jia pian (山甲片) in Chinese, and pangolin scale, anteater scale in English. The part used is the scales (sand-fried until they curl and puff). Fan-shaped keratin plates, brownish and translucent at the thin edge and striated with fine growth lines, horny and tough raw; sand-fried they swell, curl and turn brittle and pale, with a burnt-hair smell.

In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.

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