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Uncharismatic Fact of the Day
If you were a giant armadillo, going to the dentist would be pretty expensive! That's because giant armadillos have the most teeth of any terrestrial mammal, with adults sporting anywhere between 80 and 100 teeth. These teeth grow constantly throughout their lives, and are used to crush the thousands of ants and termites it eats every day.
(Image: A giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) by Bradley Davis)
Six-banded Armadillo (Euphractus sexcinctus), Chlamydophoridae, order Cingulata, southern Pantanal, Brazil
photograph by Andy Parkinson
Panochthus tuberculatus was a large glyptodont – a group of giant heavily-armored armadillos – that lived in central and southern South America during the late Pleistocene, about 800,000-12,000 years ago.
Around 3.5m long (~11.5') and 1.5m tall (~5'), it was similar in size to a modern rhino (or a small car), and its large domed "shell" made up of numerous small bony osteoderms made it resemble a mammalian tortoise. Its skull was short and deep, with ever-growing grinding teeth and downwards-flaring cheekbones that anchored powerful jaw muscles. A preserved hyoid apparatus indicates that Panochthus also had a more flexible tongue than some other glyptodonts.
The base of its tail was segmented into rings that allowed it to flex, while the end of the tail was fused into a solid bony tube that was probably studded with large keratinous knobs or spikes.
While these sort of tail weapons in glyptodonts have been proposed as being anti-predator defenses, biomechanical studies suggest they required precise aiming to be most effective and weren't well-suited to fending off fast-moving attackers. Instead they may have been more specialized for fighting each other in ritualized forms of combat – an idea supported by injuries in fossil carapaces that appear to have been caused by blows from opponents' tail clubs.
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Mexican Long-nosed Armadillo (Dasypus mexicanus). Family Dasypodidae, order Cingulata.
I believe these used to be called the Nine-banded Armadillo but was recently reclassified as a different species.
Stroud, Oklahoma, USA. November 2022.
Fairy armadillo?
Sure, I'll do a species I haven't done yet. Not to be confused with a pink fairy armadillo.
Have you seen the greater fairy armadillo (Calyptophractus retusus)?
I have now
Yes, in photos/videos
Yes, irl
I'm not sure
They reach a max length of about 5.5 to 6.9 in. Not a lot is known about these guys, hence the label "data deficient". Historically they were considered near threatened, until 2010 when their classification was changed.
Six-banded Armadillo Euphractus sexcinctus
Found in South America. Six-banded armadillos are efficient diggers and form burrows to live in and search for prey. An omnivore, it feeds on insects, ants, carrion, and plant material. Due to their poor eyesight, armadillos rely on their sense of smell to detect prey and predators. The six-banded armadillo inhabits savannas, primary and secondary forests, cerrados, shrublands, and deciduous forests.
img source
Large Hairy Armadillo, unknown photographer, (source)
Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) November, Rio Grande Valley, TX USA
