In addition to bugs, armadillos eat small vertebrates, plants, and some fruit, as well as the occassional carrion meal. Strong legs and huge front claws are used for digging, and long, sticky tongues for extracting ants and termites from their tunnels. They have very poor eyesight, and utilize their keen sense of smell to hunt. Most species dig burrows and sleep prolifically, up to 16 hours per day, foraging in the early morning and evening for beetles, ants, termites, and other insects. Because of their low metabolic rate and lack of fat stores, cold is their enemy, and spates of intemperate weather can wipe out whole populations. Habitat and DietĪrmadillos live in temperate and warm habitats, including rain forests, grasslands, and semi-deserts. In fact, only the three-banded armadillo can, curling its head and back feet and contorting its shell into a hard ball that confounds would-be predators. Others have black, red, gray, or yellowish coloring.Ĭontrary to popular belief, not all armadillos are able to encase themselves in their shells. They vary widely in size and color, from the 6-inch-long, salmon-colored pink fairy armadillo to the 5-foot-long, dark-brown giant armadillo. Five other families in this order are extinct. The armadillo family (Dasypodidae), with 8 genera and 20 species, is the only surviving family of Cingulata. Armadillos are the only living mammals that wear such shells.Ĭlosely related to anteaters and sloths, armadillos generally have a pointy or shovel-shaped snout and small eyes. Order Cingulata consists primarily of armoured armadillo-like animals, and the name refers to the girdlelike shell of present-day armadillos. An armadillo’s shell is made up of bony plates covered by thick, hard skin. But it’s different from a seashell or a tortoise shell. Armadillos are the only mammals covered by a shell. The familiar nine-banded armadillo is the only species that includes the United States in its range.Īrmadillo is a Spanish word meaning “little armored one” and refers to the bony plates that cover the back, head, legs, and tail of most of these odd looking creatures. Three-banded armadillos can be found in eastern Bolivia, southwestern Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. Oportunistic Scavenging Armadillos also eat small ground-nesting birds and their eggs. They also eat small ground-nesting birds and their eggs. Of the 20 varieties of armadillo, all but one live in Latin America. Armadillos are omnivores, and eat small insects like ants, grubs, small amphibians, spiders, small reptiles, snails, earthworms, termites, worms, mole crickets, frogs, beetles, larvae, etc.
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