Armadillo Facts

Check out these fun facts that makes armadillos simply amazing!


ArmadilloArmadillos are one of the few animals who consume fire ants as part of their diet. Such an ability can make armadillos very beneficial to humans.

Armadillos have four babies at a time, always all the same sex. They are perfect quadruplets, the fertilized cell split into quarters, resulting in four identical armadillos.

Armadillos are crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside.

Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day.

Armadillos can walk underwater.

 

Armadillos can inflate their stomachs and intestines with air and float across the water. Source

 

Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.

There are twenty different species of armadillos.

If disconnected, the sex organs of an armadillo are still active.

Most armadillos seen dead on the road did not get hit by the wheels.

When an armadillo is frightened it jumps straight into the air.

Armadillos can be housebroken.

Armadillos have a very low need of oxygen. Even when burrowing they can stop breathing for 6 minutes by storing air in the trachea and wide bronchus.

The regulation of the body temperature of about 32°C is a big problem. Armadillos don't survive long periods of frost, except the fairy armadillo that lives in Patagonia and hibernates.

The three-banded armadillo hardly digs a burrow; it protects itself by rolling up like a hedgehog. The only opening is covered by the shields of the head and the tail, so that even a dog can't open this ball. As the body fat would disturb while rolling up, the fat moved to the dorsal part of the animal during evolution.

The name "Armadillo" comes from the Spanish explorers word meaning "Little Armored Thing"

There are over 50 million armadillos in the US

Some female armadillos being used for research have given birth to young long after they were captured -- up to two years afterwards, in some cases! These "virgin births" are a result of the female's ability to delay implantation of the fertilized egg during times of stress. This reproductive tactic is one reason why the 'dillos are so good at colonizing new areas (such as the United States!).