The Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), or the nine-banded long-nosed armadillo (and colloquially as the poor man's pig or poverty pig), is a species of armadillo found in North, Central, and South America, making it the most widespread of the armadillos.[2] Its ancestors originated in South America and remained there until 3 million years ago when the formation of the Isthmus of Panama allowed them to enter North America during the Great American Interchange. The nine-banded long-nosed armadillo is a solitary, mainly nocturnal animal, found in many kinds of habitats, from mature and secondary rainforests to grassland and dry scrub. It is an insectivorous animal, feeding chiefly on ants, termites, and other small invertebrates.
Ten Facts about Nine-Banded Armadillo
- The nine banded armadillo is 14 to 22 ½ inches long, weighs 5 ½ to 14 pounds and has a 9 ½ to 18 inch long tail.
- Armadillos are not blind, but they do have poor eyesight. They rely on their ears and noses more than their eyes to detect food or predators. If you are close to an armadillo, and you stay quiet and stand still, the chances of it not noticing you are there are fairly good.
- Nine-banded armadillos always give birth to four identical young - the only mammal known to do so. All four young develop from the same egg - and they even share the same placenta.
- Armadillos are used in leprosy research because their body temperatures are low enough for them to contract the most virulent form of the disease.
- Armadillos like to swim, and they are very good at it. They have a strong dog paddle, and can even go quite a distance underwater, walking along the bottom of streams and ponds. They can hold their breath for four to six minutes at a time.
- Armadillo teeth have no enamel (the hard outer covering of the tooth). They also have very few teeth - just several peg-like molars. Since they primarily eat insects, they don't have to do a lot of heavy chewing, making big, strong teeth a waste of energy to grow.
- Like most insect eating mammals, armadillos have a very long, sticky tongue to slurp up bugs as quickly as possible. They also are equipped with strong claws to tear open ant nests.
- Armadillos have a very low metabolic rate, which means they don't produce much body heat. This also means that they are not good at living in cold areas, because they can't keep warm very well.
- Baby armadillos have soft shells, like human fingernails. They get harder as the animal grows, depositing bone under the skin to make a solid shell.
- In many parts of the world, including the United States, you might find armadillo meat on the menu. During the Great Depression of the 1920's, armadillos were nicknamed "Hoover Hogs" by the people who ate them.
