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"The name "armadillo", or
"little armored thing", originates from the Spanish conquistadores.It is,
after all, a rather odd-looking beast; the only mammal with a true shell
must have looked nearly as strange to the early Spanish explorers as the
duck-billed platypus did to the first European who spotted one. "
In
Trinidad and Tobago the animal is known as a "Tatoo"
Armadillos
are the last mammals that have a shell, Its grey or brown surface is quite
soft and feels like leather. Thanks to the skinfolds, the animal is very
agile.
Is an armadillo's shell really made of bone?
Yes, it is. The
shell is made up of thin bone plates, known as scutes. The armadillo is
the only mammal that has bone plates in its skin. Fossilized scutes have
been found in South America that are up to fifty million years old.
How big does an armadillo get?
An adult nine-banded armadillo is
about the same size as an average housecat. The body length ranges from 15
to 17 inches; the tail is 14 to 16 inches long. They weigh between 8 and
17 pounds; males are heavier than females.
The armadillo 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.
How long do armadillos
live? I would guess that the average lifespan in the wild would be between
five to seven years.
Do armadillos really always give birth to 4
identical young?
Yes. The nine-banded armadillo nearly always gives
birth to four identical young, the young are always identical. They form
from the same egg, share the same placenta during development, and are all
the same sex.
Armadillos have a very low need of oxygen. Even when
burrowing they can stop breathing for 6 minutes by storing air in the
trachea and wide bronchus. In order to improve the oxygen supply while
burrowing and to conserve their body temperature, they have so-called
retia mirabilia, that is a plait of very fine arteries, found mainly in
the extremities.
Armadillos like to swim, and they are very good at it.
They have a strong dog paddle, and can even go quite a distance
underwater, walking along the bottom of streams and ponds. When they need
to float, they gulp air into their intestines to make them more buoyant.
Armadillos have an excellent sense of smell and a good hearing,
but they are almost blind and can't see colours. Food is smelt up to 20 cm
below the surface and is dug out. The menu varies depending on the
species: Some armadillos prefer ants and termites and like to dig their
burrows just below their hills. They developed big salivary glands in the
mandibula that produce a viscous saliva on which the ants will stick and
that can be stored in reservoirs. Other armadillos prefer beetles, larvae,
caterpillars, grasshoppers, worms or even snakes or carrion, others seem
to be vegetarians.
Armadillo teeth have no enamel (the hard outer
covering of the tooth). They also have very few teeth – just several
peg-like molars. Since they primarily eat insects, they don't have to do a
lot of heavy chewing, making big, strong teeth a waste of energy to grow.
Like most insect eating mammals, armadillos have a very long, sticky
tongue to slurp up bugs as quickly as possible. They also are equipped
with strong claws to tear open ant nests.
Baby armadillos have soft
shells, like human fingernails. They get harder as the animal grows,
depositing bone under the skin to make a solid shell.
Do
armadillos make any noises? Armadillos make grunting sounds as they forage
for food. They also may squeak or squeal when they feel threatened.
Do
people really eat armadillos?
Yes. In many areas of Central and South
America and here in the Caribbean, armadillo meat is often used as part of
an average diet. I have heard that some peoples of South America keep
small varieties of armadillos as edible housepets. The meat is said to
taste like fine-grained, high-quality pork.
Are armadillos
dangerous? Not really. They are wild animals, and any wild animal should
be treated with caution and respect, but the average armadillo is not a
dangerous creature. They are capable of harming people with their strong
claws if they are handled incorrectly, but in most cases they will run
away when they feel that they are in danger. Most people who have had
encounters with the animals have reported that the armadillo pretty much
ignored them unless they did anything overtly threatening.
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