Florida Armadillos

The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), is a naturalized resident of Florida. The armadillos found in Florida have been introduced from the American West. The mammal is named for the nine breaks in the leathery armor that allow it to flex its stiff hide which provides it with a protective armor of “horny” material on its head, body and tail. This bony armor has nine movable rings between the shoulder and hip shield. The head is small with a long, narrow, piglike snout. Canine and incisor teeth are absent. It has peglike cheek teeth that range in number from seven to nine on each side of the upper and lower jaw. The long tapering tail is encased in 12 bony rings. Its track is usually three-toed and shows sharp claw marks. This nocturnal creature is odd-looking and about the size of an opossum. A mature armadillo is 15 to 17 inches long (not counting the tail) with a weight of 8 to 17 pounds.

 Follow Phillip

@majikphil

This native mammal of southwestern North America has expanded its range into Florida. Introductions of armadillos also occurred along the east coast of Florida as early as the 1920s and in southern Alabama in the 1960s. Armadillos are now common throughout most of the state and are considered to be naturalized. Armadillos prefer forested or semi-open habitats with loose textured soil that allows them to dig easily. They eat many insects, other invertebrates, and plants. They are most active at night, and have very small eyes and poor eyesight.  In the videos above and below one of my armadillos forages in a backyard bamboo grove after a rain.

Over the past few years armadillos have been spotted, naturalized again, as far north as Charlotte, North Carolina.  Milder winters are making more northern territories like North Carolina suitable for the burrowing nocturnal mammals. 

Armadillo from Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying

The armadillo is active primarily from twilight through early morning hours in the summer. In winter it may be active only during the day. The armadillo usually digs a burrow 7 or 8 inches (18 or 20 cm) in diameter and up to 15 feet (4.5 m) in length for shelter and raising young. Armadillos dig their burrows for their homes or to escape predators, and a single armadillo can have several different burrows with multiple entrances. 

Pregnant females always give birth to identical quadruplets. The young are born in a nest within the burrow. The female produces only one litter each year in March or April after a 150-day gestation period. The litter always consists of quadruplets of the same sex. The young are identical since they are derived from a single egg. She produces one egg that splits into four identical offspring that are either all female or all male. This trait differs from most other mammals.

Photo:  Florida, Black Point Wildlife Drive
Cape Canaveral
by Corey at 10000 birds

The armadillo has poor eyesight, but a keen sense of smell. In spite of its cumbersome appearance, it's agile and can run well when in danger. It's a good swimmer and able to walk across the bottom of small streams.

Photo:  Florida, Black Point Wildlife Drive
Cape Canaveral
by Corey at 10000 birds

The armadillo range today is vast, from south Texas to the southeastern tip of New Mexico, through Oklahoma, the southeastern corner of Kansas and the southwestern corner of Missouri, most of Arkansas and southwestern Mississippi. The range also includes southern Alabama, Georgia and most of Florida and into the Appalachians.

Armadillos are fascinating in other respects. When they need to cross narrow water bodies, they often walk on the bottom underwater. If it is a wide body of water, they will inflate their stomach to twice its normal size, allowing for enough buoyancy to swim across. When startled, armadillos often leap high into the air, and then run quickly to a nearby burrow.

Armadillos can carry diseases such as St. Louis encephalitis, leptospires, arboviruses, and Hansen's disease (leprosy), so probably best not to handle them.  For more on this read:

New Evidence That Wild Armadillos Spread Leprosy to Humans

and don't eat the meat in Brazil if you're not sure what you're being served.

and

Armadillos and Leprosy:  from infection to biological model

Can you see the Armadillo in this image?
Texas has 8 official state animals
The Texas Longhorn and the Nine-banded Armadillo
are 2 of the 8