Armadillo

=﻿The Brazilian Three-banded Armadillo=



Armadillos are the last surviving members of the Dasypodidae family. They are, however, in the superorder Xenarthra with tree sloths and anteaters. This Superorder also contains eight extinct families of armadillo'like animals and ground sloths. The majority of Xenarthrans live in Central/South America.

The name Xenarthra means “strange joints,” which is appropriate for a group of animals with extra articulations in their vertebral joints. Another distinguishing feature of Xenarthrans is that the males do not have external testicles.

Armadillos are four legged animals that move in a way that can only be describes as a “sort of trot.” They bounce on their front toes while the back feet slap flat on the ground. When traveling, the armadillo will usually be solitary, but will occasionally travel in small groups of three or four.

The armadillo is an omnivore; it eats both meat and plants. An armadillo’s diet consists of beetles, termites, ants, worms, small vertebrates, plants, fruit and carrion (dead animals). It gets insects by smelling for them. When it gets a scent, it quickly digs and then plunges its nose into the soil, slurping up insects with its long tongue.

The armadillo reaches sexual maturity at 9-12 months. The females have a gestation period of 120 days, after which a single blind baby is born. This baby armadillo (known as a pup) will grow to be 40-55 cm in length.

Armadillos (Three-banded especially) have extraordinary adaptation to help them survive in a relatively harsh environment. First, armadillos can curl up into a ball to protect itself from predators. Contrary to popular belief, only three-banded armadillos can curl up into a complete ball. Another cool thing armadillos have done to adapt to their environment is grow large claws. Armadillos are famous for digging and can dig into the earth to catch prey or escape a predator. The last adaptation the armadillo have is it is nocturnal. Nocturnal means it sleeps in the day, and hunts at night. This is helpful because it is harder for predators to spot them at night, but it does not hinder its ability to hurt because it does not use its eyes.




 * Kingdom:  ||   [|Animalia]    ||
 * Phylum:  ||   [|Chordata]    ||
 * Class:  ||   [|Mammalia]    ||
 * Order:  ||   [|Cingulata]    ||
 * Family:  ||   [|Dasypodidae]    ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Genus:  ||  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[|//Tolypeutes//]   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Species:  ||  **//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">T. tricinctus //**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">   ||