Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Nine-banded armadillo
It's commonly thought that this strange little animal's first line of defense is to curl into a tight, ar-
mored ball in order to protect its soft underside. However, the armadillo much prefers to run into brush
so thick that its enemies can't follow, dive down a burrow, dig its way swiftly out of sight, or even es-
cape by swimming. Only as a last resort does it curl into an armored ball, from whence it can kick an
attacker with powerful hind legs and long, strong claws.
Although an armadillo's tough, horny plates do serve
in extremis
as a defense against predators, they
probably function more as a shield against thorns, spines, and sharp twigs. The armadillo mostly inhab-
its areas where sharp, spiny plants seem to be the rule, and its armor enables the little creature to escape
danger by scurrying with impunity into thick, thorny brush too daunting for most predators to tackle.
One of the armadillo's characteristics, however, represents a distinct defensive disadvantage in the
modern world: when startled by the sudden approach of something like a speeding auto, the armadillo
tends to leap into the air to about bumper height. There, despite the little animal's armor, the car always
wins!
The subject of road-killed armadillos leads to the story of a classic practical joke. A former colleague
of mine, driving back to his home in the Midwest from a conference in Texas, picked up a number of
freshly killed armadillos along the highway. Then, when he was well north of the armadillo's range, he
began to surreptitiously drop his defunct passengers at strategic points along the highway where they
would be highly visible. As a result, great excitement and puzzlement ensued among wildlife officials
and the news media in several states because of what seemed a sudden, unexplained incursion of the
little armored ones! As far as I know, the perpetrator of this brilliant deception never told anyone but
his fellow workers about it.
Armadillos, along with anteaters and sloths, belong to the order Edentata, which means “without
teeth.” Although some members of this order, such as the anteater, are literally toothless, the armadillo
does have twenty-eight to thirty-two (usually thirty-two) very primitive teeth, in the form of simple
pegs. Not surprisingly, then, its omnivorous eating habits concentrate on foods that require little chew-
