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| The Truth about Armadillos | ||
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Imagine riding through the South-American pampa. Suddenly, you see
a cow-pat moving. Or was it a stone? Try to get closer to it, it may
be one of the most interesting inhabitants of this area: an armadillo.
Never heard of it? So, it's time to get to know it, before it's too late.
Some species are almost extinct. Armadillos are often classified together
with the sloths and the anteaters as Edentata (teethless). This classification
is quite confusing, as giant armadillos have up to 100 teeth. Actually, it
only means that they don't have incisors or canines. It would be better to
count them as Xenarthra, since their thoracic and lumbar vertebrae have
additional joint processes. Armadillos are found in South America, except one species, the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), that has found its way up to Texas. They live in the open fields and near the forests; the giant and the nine-banded armadillo prefer hiding in the jungle. |
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| A baby armadillo. | ||
| The majority of the 30 species are active at night and hide during daylight. Their burrow consists of one or more tunnels of several meters each that end in a wide chamber stuffed with dry grass to make it more comfortable. It's amazing how quickly they can burrow with their sharp claws. The shape of the burrow's entrance is round or oval, depending on the species, and is very narrow. It is almost impossible to pull an armadillo out as they use their bands and claws like barbs in the hard ground of the tunnel. There are two ways to get it out: once you are able to catch its tail, you can grasp its hind legs. Or you insert a finger into its rectum, which makes it relax all its muscles. | The English name "armadillo" is a Spanish word that means "little armoured thing". Armadillos are the last mammals that have a shell, that is an ossification of the corium interrupted by several folds of the skin. Its grey or brown surface is quite soft and feels like leather. Thanks to the skinfolds, the animal is very agile. The new-born are covered by soft pink epidermal scales. In the first phase of growth, ossification begins below the scales. Later on the ossificated platelets join to a big shield over the shoulder and one in the sacral region, several rectangular bands on the back and smaller shields on the head, the legs and the tail (excepted the naked-tailed armadillo). | Armadillos have an excellent sense of smell and a good hearing, but they are almost blind and can't see colours. The size varies from 15 cm (fairy armadillo) to 1.5 m (giant armadillo) and a weight between 90 g and 50 kg. The best-known nine-banded armadillo measures from head to tail 60 to 90 cm and weighs about 2.5 to 6 kg, depending on the publication. This information reflects the main problem an interested person has to deal with: there are just a few publications about this little animal, and in most of them the most frequent words are "not known" or "has not yet been studied". |