Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Present-day armadillos are valued for their meat in many areas, although they probably aren't as
widely hunted now as they were in the past. I once had the opportunity to try armadillo meat at a dinner
in Texas; it was delicious, tender and moist, with a flavor similar to that of pork. The hides are also used
to make a variety of items for sale, mostly in the tourist trade.
Many people have a virtual love affair with the armadillo, especially in Texas, where it's the official
state mammal. Armadillo races are held, and so are armadillo “beauty pageants.” For the latter, proud
owners groom their armored charges to ensure that they look their best. Beauty is indeed in the eye of
the beholder!
Not everyone takes such a benign view of armadillos, however. Owing to their propensity for digging
up grubs and earthworms, the little beasts can be the bane of homeowners who take pride in their lawns.
Even worse can be their effect on a golf course, where an armadillo can gouge up a lot of valuable turf
in a short time.
Many armadillo oddities have already been described, but nothing about them is stranger than their
role in Hansen's disease, more commonly known as leprosy. According to Dr. Richard Truman, Chief
of Microbiology at the G. W. Long Hansen's Disease Center, the armadillo is the
only
mammal besides
humans that's known to develop leprosy at a high level of frequency in a natural population. Chimpan-
zees and sooty mangabys have been known to contract the disease, but these cases have been rare. On
the other hand, up to 20 percent of wild armadillos in some areas harbor the bacteria that cause leprosy.
At present, says Dr. Truman, there is no proof that humans can acquire Hansen's disease by handling
infected armadillos, nor is there any way of assessing the level of risk involved. There is an immense
amount of human contact with infected armadillos, considering the number of people who adopt wild
armadillos as pets, pick them up to move them out of yard or garden, hunt them for meat, or handle
road-killed specimens. Despite this level of contact, only thirty to forty new cases of the disease annu-
ally are diagnosed in the United States that don't result from infection in other parts of the world, so the
level of risk obviously is not great. Nonetheless, advises Dr. Truman, people should at least take this
information into account before deciding whether or not to handle armadillos.
If, however, armadillos present a possible risk of acquiring Hansen's disease, they might ultimately
be of use in finding a vaccine against this ancient scourge. One of the greatest difficulties in research on
Hansen's disease is the fact that
Mycobacterium leprae,
the cause of the disease, can't be grown suc-
cessfully except
in situ,
that is, in or on a living organism. This feat was first successfully accomplished
on the foot pads of laboratory mice in 1961, and it was theorized that a slightly lower temperature out-
side the body might have made this possible.
Enter friend armadillo, which, among its many other unique characteristics, has an internal body
temperature 2 degrees to 3 degrees Celsius lower than that of humans. Researchers found in 1968 that
Mycobacterium leprae
would, in fact, develop inside armadillos injected with it. Thanks in part to sub-
sequent research, there are currently three studies testing a vaccine against leprosy, although it's too
early to tell whether or not it will be effective.
