Amazing Armadillos

If you're trying to watch your figure, don't eat too much armadillo! These little mammals pack 780 calories in just one pound of meat, which is just one of the many amusing unknown facts. When I started researching armadillos, I had no idea how much information I would find, but armadillos are actually quite famous for their unique features. Did you know that they always have four babies at one time, all the same sex? Armadillos produce identical quadruplets every time they give birth because the fertilized egg always splits into four cell quarters. Carrying those quadruplets must be hard work too, because these animals sleep an average of 18.5 hours every day.

Armadillos are most famous in Texas, where they were actually named the official state mammal. Texas even made a law that it is illegal to sell a live armadillo because they can carry leprosy. How weird is that? Can you imagine what an armadillo with leprosy would look like? While I've never seen one of these creatures face-to-face, they are quite common in the south, often spotted as roadkill. Armadillos have a natural jumping reflex when they get scared, so they are frequently killed when they jump in front of cars. Whatever armadillos escape death by car will often be seen out after dark, feeding on the bugs that gravitate towards the roadkill. They are also notorious for digging big holes and southerners often call them "gravediggers".

These crazy critters have been around the United States for a long time. It is highly speculated that they arrived in Texas by crossing the Rio Grande in the mid-nineteenth century. How does an armadillo cross a river? Well, it's fortunate that you asked because this brings me to another fun fact. Armadillos have actually been observed crossing rivers in two ways. First, they can hold their breath for up to six minutes while walking across the bottom of the riverbed. But this only works in shallow water. If the water is deep, then armadillos get resourceful. They actually gulp air into their stomachs and intestines until they look like they will pop. Then they float across the river on their self-made rafts. When they are done floating, it takes several hours to fully deflate. Our tax dollars really paid scientists to watch farting armadillos deflate comforting, isn't it?

Armadillos come in all shapes and sizes. Different species include the nine banded armadillo, six banded armadillo, three banded armadillo, pink armadillo, giant armadillo, and drumroll, please hairy armadillo. The hairy armadillo is my personal favorite after browsing some pictures. I also found out that these hairy varieties are such deep sleepers that they don't even wake up when you handle them.

So what is a day in the life of an armadillo really like? Well, a typical armadillo will live its entire life within a ten acre area, digging around twelve big burrows to mark the territorial boundaries. They live like this for their whole lives, which usually lasts seven to ten years. They like to sleep away their days, lying around in the burrows avoiding the heat. When it gets dark and cools off a bit, they come out and use their special sticky tongues to slurp up insects.

So back to the beginning, armadillo meat is packed with calories, but those fat lovers who eat it regularly claim that it tastes like high quality pork. Now, if you want to risk catching leprosy from undercooked armadillo meat, that's fine with me, but this last fact will deter me from ever trying one bite of armadillo. I've told you about these little scavenger's sticky tongues that love slurping up bugs, but I might have failed to mention that they often end up eating the roadkill the bugs are crawling on. As a matter of fact, these armadillos will eat about anything. One dead armadillo was studied (once again with our tax dollars) and had ten tarantulas, a scorpion, a snake, and a toad swimming in its smelly stomach fluid. Now I dare you to take a bite of one of these southern critters.

Whether you do have armadillo chili for dinner tonight or just marvel at the crazy research that's been done, armadillos are fascinating creatures. Surf the internet to learn more and be sure to check out pictures of these strange looking animals. They are so ugly that they actually strike me as cute.