Armadillos are no more related to rodents than humans are. These creatures are not from the rodent family, the marsupial family, or anything else like that for that matter. They are actually part of the mammalian family. Armadillos are New World placental mammals with a leathery armory shell. In Spanish, the word Armadillo literally means “little armored one.” The Aztec referred to them as azotochtli, Nahuatl for “turtle rabbit.” Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the super order Xenarthra along with anteaters and sloths. While members of the rodent family would belong to the order Rondentia.

There are at least 20 different species of armadillos, some being distinguished by the number of bands on their armor. All species are native to the Americas and have been known to inhabit a wide variety of environments. Many species of armadillos are endangered.

Armadillos are omnivorous creatures who can typically be found eating whatever they are able to find. A few things that they enjoy eating however include: snakes, frogs, termites, ants, carrion, and plants. The majority of an armadillo’s diet is typically made up of insects and larvae. Some have even been known to eat spiders and scorpions. One thing is sure about these hungry creatures, they are not picky when it comes to food. They can often be found digging into the ground to feast upon worms and insects. Diets can vary upon an armadillo’s species.

Although it is not typical for armadillos to be owned in captivity as pets, nor is it legal in most cases, those individuals who do own armadillos have found that the following are the best sources of food to incorporate into the armadillo’s diet:

• Bait worms
• Meal worms
• Grubs
• Ants
• Vegetation (lettuce and fruit work well)

For those who are nursing an armadillo or for armadillos of the nursing age, kitten formula can be fed to the armadillos with an eyedropper. It is very important not to force feed these little guys though. They can easily overeat, which can lead to many complications including severe gastric distress and even death.

For older armadillos, moist canned cat food will provide all of the proper nutrients required to keep the armadillo healthy. However, individuals must always be sure to supplement this with natural food items if the armadillo is to be successfully released into the wild.

When it comes to feeding armadillos in captivity, owners must not only help train their armadillos to find their food by showing them what to eat, but also must teach them how to find their food on their own. This can be done by burying their food in a shallow pan of dirt and then letting the armadillo find the food on its own terms. As the armadillo begins to get larger, you will eventually need to let it outside to begin foraging on its own, preferably in a large outdoor enclosure if you are not going to let them back out into the wild.

It is very important when teaching this process to the armadillos, that they appear to be comfortable with finding their own food before you decide to release it back into the wild. In any case, leaving behind a bit of food in the evenings for the armadillo just in case it can’t find any on its own can be helpful, but can also have the disadvantage of possibly attracting raccoons or stray cats. If the armadillo cannot be released into the wild, try to release it into a place that it can at least survive. The following are the essentials that it needs in order to stay alive:

• Access to water such as a pond or a stream
• Open, grassy area to forage in
• Plenty of room to wander around
• Brush or other undergrowth to hide and burrow in

The only armadillo that is able to roll itself into a ball is the three-banded armadillo. This species of armadillo uses its shell as a defense mechanism. It is the only type of armadillo that can roll itself into a ball when endangered. It does so by folding its body in half and then tucking its head and legs into its shell. It then curls its tail beside the head and pulls in tight. Since the top of the head and tail of this armadillo are armored well, the end result leaves virtually no exposed flesh for a predator to hurt.

The key to this specie’s line of defense is its shell. Its shell is a combination of bone and tough tissue coating, called a carapace. About 2,000 tiny scales known as scutes are composed of the protein keratin and make up the carapace. The carapace is divided into the anterior scapular shield over its forequarters and the posterior pelvic shield over its hindquarters. Between these two shields are a series of bands that vary depending upon the species of armadillo. These softer bands look somewhat like an accordion and allow for mobility. In most armadillos, the two shields are attached to the skin on all sides.

However when it comes to the three banded armadillo, its shields are unattached along its lateral sides, which gives it the extra room between the skin and the shell it needs for tucking itself into its shell. Other armadillos can hunch over in an attempt to conceal most of their abdomens, however their shields do not provide a space for them to retract their limbs.

For armadillos that do not have the luxury of rolling themselves up into their shells for protection, they will often stand motionless for a moment to see if their predator will ignore them. If this doesn’t work, they will try to run away or dig away, and hide. Though they have poor vision, these creatures are good at finding cover or a burrow to scurry into during an attack. When threatened, armadillos are also known to jump straight up into the air in order to startle the predator, and then afterwards it will hoof it to the nearest spot of safety.

In the United States, some of the larger predators that armadillos have to watch out for include mountain lions, coyotes and bears.

It is true that armadillos are very territorial creatures. (Some species more so than others). Armadillos have been known to mark their territory with urine, feces and excretions from sweat glands that are located on their eyelids, nose and feet. Some species secrete excretions from sweat glands located in their anal glands. Female armadillos tend to have exclusive, clearly defined territories, while males have larger territories that overlap, and coincide with the ranges of several females. It is for this reason that it is not uncommon to often find unrelated males sleeping in the same burrows from time to time.

It is also not uncommon for armadillos to get into a territorial dispute; however this does not always happen. The creatures settle these disputes by kicking and chasing one another. Despite being cute creatures, since armadillos have a territorial nature they can be quite aggressive when they feel threatened. Individual armadillos may be able to recognize one another through scent marking.

The armadillo is an extensive burrower. Sometimes a single armadillo can be found maintaining anywhere up to 12 burrows in their territory. A typical burrow is roughly 8 inches wide, 7 feet deep, and up to 25 feet long. These burrows can usually be found in moist, firmly packed soil. In residential areas they have been found under the foundation of homes and around air conditioning slab.

Armadillos do not hibernate however a moderate climate is essential to their survival as they cannot endure long periods of freezing weather. The creature’s armor like shell covers most of its body and provides a certain amount of protection; however it offers little insulation against cold weather. Armadillos will not expand into extreme northern climates due to the cold temperatures.

These creatures do not store much body fat, do not hibernate, and instead continue to forage year round. As winter arrives, their food supplies become scarce and frozen ground conditions prevent them from being able to dig in order to search for food. Since they cannot tolerate freezing temperatures, in order to escape the cold the armadillos often retreat underground. However, it should be noted that they are still unable to hibernate while doing this because they will either freeze or starve to death in these types of conditions.

Armadillos typically will dig a burrow 7 or 8 inches in diameter and up to 15 feet in length for shelter and to raise their young. Burrows are often located in rock piles, around stumps, brush piles, and in dense woodlands. They also may have several different burrow locations in a specific area that they use in order to escape from predators.

Armadillos have a regular body temperature of about 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit, much lower than the mammalian average of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Armadillos are mainly nocturnal, and can be found spending most of their day hiding in their burrows, however they may also occasionally appear during the daylight and may be diurnal in cool weather, and nocturnal during the hottest days of summer.

Typically, armadillos are nocturnal and most active around dawn or dusk. It is not uncommon to see one around this time if you are near an area with lots of underbrush or with a good water source. Armadillos are attracted to these types of places because they forage and burrow here.

However there are certain species of armadillos that are diurnal, such as the six banded armadillo. This species can be found moving about in the daylight searching for food and feasting upon things such as plants, insects and carrion.

Armadillos are creatures that burrow underground and forage for their food. It is for this reason that they do dig holes. Typically, the armadillo is known to dig 2 types of holes. They create burrows to shelter themselves from the hot sun during the day, and they also dig shallow, conical holes that they use to graze for grubs and the like.

Armadillo burrows are often large enough for a person to easily stick their hand into, however blindly sticking your hand into a hole is always a bad idea as snakes love to move into old armadillo burrows. If you happen to come across an armadillo hole, the first thing to do is to try and find out if the hole is still active. Do this by filling it back up with soil. If the hole has been abandoned, it will obviously stay shut. If it is an active burrow, the hole will be re-dug over within the next few days. If the digging becomes a problem, your best bet is to trap the critters with a cage.

Armadillos are known to inhabit a home range of about 6 to 8 residential yards and have many burrows throughout their range. Sometimes as many as 12 in one area. They make, dig, and use many burrows and may not return to them for a few days.

Armadillos are found in North America and can often be found in places such as Texas, New Mexico, Missouri, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. They can also be found in other states. In the wild, these creatures prefer the shady, dense cover of brush, forests and woodlands, preferably next to a water source. Since they get most of their food by digging into the earth, they prefer loose and porous sandy soil or loam soil. Armadillos will dig their burrows inside rock piles, stumps, brush piles, and sometimes even underneath foundation. To avoid or trick their predators, these creatures often have more than one burrow in an area

Armadillos can do a lot of damage when they move into human territory. They have been known to burrow underneath sheds, homes, businesses, porches, decks, driveways, crawlspaces, woodpiles, and have even destroyed gardens, landscaping, trees, etc. They will enter foundation openings to get to these spots and will sometimes even create a hole in the foundation themselves. These creatures are equipped with very strong and powerful claws and legs that enable them to dig efficiently.

There are many species of armadillos that are endangered and/or threatened. This is due to many different reasons including human encroachment, slash and burn farming, and hunting. Deaths due to domestic dogs also account for a large percentage of the problem. There are about twenty different species of armadillos. Of these twenty different species, only one appears to be increasing in number. This species is known as the nine banded armadillo.

Within the last hundred years, the nine banded armadillo has expanded its home range northward into the United States and has moved as far west as Colorado and as far north as Illinois. There have even been the occasional sightings of them even farther north. Cold weather will eventually put an end to the spread of armadillos as they cannot tolerate even relatively short periods of extreme cold, although they are equipped with large fat reserves that help them insulate their bodies. Species such as the giant armadillo are featured on the endangered species list and are in grave danger of reaching extinction.

Armadillos are mammals that have a backbone, therefore they are vertebrates. Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, chordates that are equipped with backbones or spinal columns. Vertebrates are also the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include jawless fish, bony fish, sharks, rays, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

Invertebrates are animals without a backbone. This group consists of 97% of all animal species, except for those who are vertebrates. Invertebrates form a paraphletic group. Given a common multicellular, eukaryotic ancestor, all contained phyla are invertebrates along with two to three subphyla in Phylum Chordata, Tunicata and Cephalochordata.

Armadillos being that they are vertebrates are equipped with armor. This armor is formed by plates of dermal bone covered in relatively small, overlapping epidermal scales that are called “scutes”. These scutes are composed of bone with a covering of horn. In most species of armadillos, rigid shields over the shoulders and hips, with a number of bands separated by flexible skin cover the back and flanks of the creature. Additional armor covers the top of the creature’s head, the upper parts of the limbs as well as the tail. The underside of the armadillo is never armored, and is instead simply covered with a soft skin and fur.

The armadillo’s armor-like skin appears to be its main defense, although most have also been known to escape from their predators by fleeing or digging to safety. Only the South American three-banded armadillo is known to rely heavily upon their armor for protection.

Typically it is rare for an armadillo to bite. These creatures have no enamel (hard outer covering of the tooth). They also have very few teeth. Rather, they have just a few peg shaped molars in the back of their mouths. Since they primarily feast upon insects, they are not required to do a lot of chewing, and making big strong teeth would be a waste of energy.

Armadillos have lost all of their molars over time and their teeth as mentioned before, remain peg shaped. They lack incisors and canine teeth as their diets consist of bugs, soft plants and decaying meat, they are not required to shred or tear meat. Therefore they do not pack a very hard bite, and in most cases if an armadillo were to bite a human it would not be very painful unless you have a very low pain tolerance.

When feeling threatened, rather than biting these creatures would be more likely to jump in the air to try and startle their predator and then try and sneak away as quickly as possible by running or digging itself away to freedom. They are very good at burrowing when in danger, and they have also been known to play dead to try and get predators to ignore them.