The “Snerfelings of Armadillos”

For weeks, the mulch was lying there, inert, doing its “mulchy” thing, but then just the other morning, I stepped out to see a maze of trenches zigzagging through the bushes.  Aha!  A clear sign that there has been a whole lot of “snerfeling” going on in the night.  “Snerfeling” is my own term for the routings of Armadillo’s, following their nose through the mulch in search of some yummy beetle or other.  It’s the term I use with school kids on my nature walks and it is one of the easiest animal signs in this area to come upon.  It is a combination of the armadillo’s nose pointed to the ground, plowing through the mulch sniffing, and shuffling along in search of its food that leaves these curving trenches. The “er” in “snerf” makes it sound more like a verb to me. 

Armadillo’s have a great sense of smell, perhaps I have told you before, and can sniff out its insect meal several inches under ground.  I would love to see my nighttime visitor, tunneling its way through my mulch but I never have.   Most times it is doing me a favor, keeping the population of beetles down, beetles that might be happy to eat at the roots of these plants.  Just as a skunk helps you keep the grubs in check in your yard is doing you a favor that saves you money and time spreading grub control. 

They say July and August are the peak “love” months for armadillos.  Now I can wonder if the many trenches I saw were made by one industrious armadillo or a pair out foraging together. No lifelong commitment for the armadillo but I have read that the male will follow the female while she is feeding, but if he doesn’t keep up, she will leave him in the dust.  Focus Mr. Armadillo.  A wagging tail shows that she will accept his overtures and the rest is too delicate to discuss. 

 The amazing thing about armadillo’s is that it is one of those rare mammals that can delay fertilization, somehow keeping it all on hold for a year if the season rolls around again but no males come calling.   

My bucket list of things I wish I could see an armadillo do:

Leap into the air with all fours when startled by something; they call it bucking.

Carry its nesting material close to its chest while hopping backwards towards its den. That’s how the books describe it.

Find their scat!  For all the armadillo signs I see, this is never one of them!  They say they often make a scrape, use that, and then cover it up, so clearly not an easy thing to come upon.  But I can hope.  After all, all this apparent snerfeling that lead no doubt to eating should inevitably lead to what I seek, should it not? 

Watch an armadillo swimming across water where it will gulp air as it goes, rising ever higher in the water, as it gets more buoyant.  I would need special equipment to see their other mode of crossing the creek, which is just tiptoeing across the bottom, hippo style.  It turns out they are really good at holding their breath, so if it is not too far, that’s the method they use.

Until I see any of these things, I will just have to take it on faith that they do them.  Just the way you will have to take it on faith that “snerfeling” is a perfectly good word.