Armadillo

Armadillo (a Spanish word referring to their defensive covering), the popular name of any animal of the Edentate family Dasypodidae, confined to tropical and temperate South America, with the exception of the Peba (q.v.), found as far north as Texas. They are burrowing animals, furnished with strong claws fitted for digging, and well-developed collar-bones. They vary greatly in size, the largest being more than three feet and the smallest about ten inches in length, from the snout to the insertion of the tail. The teeth are simple molars, in one case as many as twenty-five on each side in each jaw. These teeth are not in a continuous row, but have spaces between them so that those of the upper and lower jaw interlock when the month is shut, In one species only there are teeth on the pre-maxillary bone, corresponding to the incisors of higher mammals. The upper surface of the body is covered with a coat of mail of hard bony plates or shields, united at their edges. In the most perfectly armoured there are four distinct shields - one covering the head, another the back of the neck, a third on the fore-part of the back, and the fourth covering the rump. Between the third and fourth shields, bands - from three to thirteen in number - occur. These bands are movable on each other, and allow the rest of the armour to accommodate itself to the body, so that most of the animals can roll themselves into a ball like the hedgehog, presenting no vulnerable part to an enemy. The tail may be protected by incomplete bony rings and scales, and some of the latter are scattered over the limbs and under surface. The head is long and broad at the neck, which is short; and the body is long, round, and low. The Armadillos are mostly nocturnal timid animals, capable of burrowing rapidly, and some of them able to run with considerable speed. They have a strong sense of smell and hearing, and feed on vegetables, fruit, insects, worms, and, in some cases, carrion.