The Nine-banded
Armadillo
(Dasypus novemcinctus)
By James Call
Illustrated by Lizabeth West
Range: through Florida, Texas, Mexico, and South America
Body length: 15-17 in. Tail: 14-16 in. Weight: 8-17 lbs.
The nine-banded armadillo is a cat-sized, armored, insect-eating mammal.
Similar in form to an anteater, the bony, scaled shell of the armadillo
protects it from attacks by predators. Armadillos often fall victim to
automobiles and are frequently found dead on roadsides.
Naturalists first observed nine-banded armadillos in the United States in
1849, in the Rio Grande Valley. Since then the peculiar mammal has
expanded its range into the Southeast at a rate 10 times faster than
typically seen in mammals. Although they are slow movers, average walking
speed is about a third of a mile an hour, they can break into a run when
startled. Armadillos are usually born in sets of four, all of the same
sex. Each armadillo is a clone of its three siblings. One female can
populate a new area.
Armadillos live in burrows. A single armadillo may have up to 15 burrows
(each 8 inches in diameter and 2 to 25 feet long) in its 10-acre range.
Some burrows have several entrances for emergency access, but there is
always a main entrance which the armadillo uses most of the time.
Armadillos rummage through leaf litter for tasty grubs, worms and ants.
The armadillo has a keen sense of smell and can sniff out insects six
inches underground. When digging for them it will make 3 to 4-inch cone
shaped holes which it will revisits to gobble up any new bugs or snails
which may have slipped in. Its sticky, barbed tongue aids it in picking up
its food. The armadillo has 30 to 32 teeth, all of them peg-shaped molars.
The name armadillo, comes from Spanish and refers to its armor-like
covering. The shell is made of a bone-like casing. This “armor”
consists of a large shield over the shoulders, a second large shield over
the rump, and nine bands in the middle.
Because the shell itself cannot grow nor be replaced as the armadillo
grows, it is soft and leathery when the armadillo is born. It does not
harden until the armadillo reaches its full adult size of 8 to 15 pounds.
The armadillo has a particularly interesting method for crossing water.
When faced with a stream, the armadillo will simply walk across the
bottom, under water. However, when up against a wider body of water, the
armadillo will swallow enough air to inflate its stomach to twice its
normal size. This increased buoyancy then allows the armadillo to swim
across. Afterwards, it takes the armadillo several hours to release all
the excess air from its body.
This article appeared in the May-June 2001 issue of Florida Wildlife
magazine.