WHERE WOULD I BE WITHOUT ARMADILLOS?

Our Spring Outdoor Classroom has resumed at Cibolo Nature Center where I volunteer leading students on nature hikes.  My favorite approach is to tell them a naturalist is just a detective that is looking for clues to discover what animals have been there.  As the predominance of animals are nocturnal, and the others are not likely to make themselves seen when some 60 noisy kids are traipsing through the woods, then what we have left is to look for clues they left behind. 

Now it seems to me that there were far more clues left in the Northeast woods than you find in Texas.  We would find endless “middens”, piles of discarded pine cones the red squirrel had eaten, or plenty of tracks, especially in snow or in damp sandy places that abounded on the Cape.  Scat (scientific word for poop) was fairly easy to come by too; twisted ropes typical of coyote and fox that showed the presence of fur or bone, or cherry pits or beach plum pits if either were in season. 

Here in Texas, the ground is too hard for tracks, and it seems perhaps the presence of dung beetles make even scat, with the exception of the omnipresent deer scat, hard to come by.  Now my roof, that is another matter; it is festooned with raccoon scat that needs to be periodically removed.  Clearly they enjoy eating and pooping with a view.

But the one exception, the one animal that leaves an incredible amount of “sign” around is the Texas State Small Mammal, the armadillo.  Because they tend to have, as a minimum, 4-5 den sites and a maximum of 15, burrows are everywhere. At least they are at Cibolo, which has a blend of habitats.  Armadillos prefer forest areas where they can snuffle their way through the leaf litter looking for their favorite food, beetles, and along riparian ways where the digging is easy.  We have a creek running through the property and there, you find many of their dens dug into the sloping creek banks and, when the creek is dry, in the creek bed itself.

On top of that, when they are looking for their insectivore meal,  they  put that little pointy nose of theirs down on the ground, in the mulch or the leaf litter, and plow along until they find something tasty.   Then they dig a very obvious hole with the dirt shooting through their back legs until they find the proverbial “little bugger”. Consequently, even the youngest child can become an expert armadillo detective in short order.

The best purchase I made this year was a cute armadillo puppet that can mimic all these actions; plowing through mulch, digging and shooting dirt up onto the kids that are crouched around and it been a big hit so far!  Plus there are so many cool facts to share about armadillo’s that you never run out of things to say. 

Here’s a sampling:

-They have been steadily moving north from the Central America through the Southwest and have been found as far north as Illinois.

However when it is colder than 70, they start to shiver.  That’s because they are mostly covered with those leathery keratinous scales with fur only found between them.  They retreat to their burrows when it is colder than that.  We must have a lot of shivering armadillos for they clearly are foraging each night and our “winter” nights are far below 70. 

-Because they cannot regulate their temperature well they are host to many bacteria and virus and, as many people know, they are a carrier for leprosy.  However no need to panic.  It is not easily transferred to people, 95% of us are immune to it and the way you MIGHT get it is eating one, which indeed was done in the past but not on many people’s menu today.  And today, leprosy is easily cured with antibiotics.

 

-They usually have 4 identical young in the spring, which are all from one egg that might have been fertilized the summer before.  They are able to have delayed implementation so that the young are born the following spring.  And those pups will stay in the den for the first three months or so.  Look for little mini armadillos in early summer. 

-The bony scales called “osteoderms” are soft on the newborns and take months to harden up making them the tastiest ones for predators to go after.  However, having eradicated so many predators, it seems to be up to cars to keep their numbers in check.

- They can hold their breath for 6 minutes and can choose to cross a river by tiptoeing on the bottom hippo style or inflating themselves and floating on the top!

 

So now, four things on my bucket list are:

-Seeing an armadillo leap 3’ into the air when startled, then coming down at a sprint that can reach 30 mph.

-Finding armadillo scat.  Due to the fact that they eat mostly insects it must crumble apart quickly and there is a rumor they may bury it like a cat.

-Seeing one hopping on its hind legs clutching a load of leaves to bring back to its burrow to make a soft bed.

-I read that they also can climb trees!  Well, they have really long claws but I can’t say I ever heard anyone say they saw one in the trees. 

So, bless you armadillo’s; you provide so many things for me to point out on my walks, you provide many other animals with shelter on a rainy or cold night with your plethora of unused burrows and you are just one improbably cute critter.  Villa la Armadillo!