Talk:Armadillo

Honoraria

The Nine-Banded is the official Texas State Small Mammal. https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/dillo/ Ken (talk) 23:02, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

Consecutive sentences contradicting

The characteristics section states that the "numerous cheek teeth" are not distinguished into premolar and molar but the following section regarding the dentition/dental formula states 7 premolars and 1 molar. DrOfProfessor (talk) 14:46, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 June 2024

In the humans and armadillos portion, The Shel Silverstein line is "72 pads of brillo", not 27 205.175.106.92 (talk) 00:17, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. ABG (Talk/Report any mistakes here) 02:48, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

 Done Silverstein quote was easy to find. - UtherSRG (talk) 10:16, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

Defensive jumping behavior may be largely exaggerated.

Forgive my newness here.

The wiki text reads: "When surprised, the North American nine-banded armadillo tends to jump straight in the air, which can lead to a fatal collision with the undercarriage or fenders of passing vehicles."

In a later section, the wiki continues: "Even though they have a leathery, tough shell, armadillos, (mainly Dasypus) are common roadkill due to their habit of jumping 3–4 ft vertically when startled, which puts them into collision with the underside of vehicles."

This second claim is repeated on the "Nine-banded armadillo" wiki article.

I believe that the "3-4" foot number is unsubstantiated, and possibly a popular myth. Likewise, there does not seem to be evidence that they jump into the bottom of vehicles.

The first source we have is an edutainment article which states: "When startled, the nine-banded armadillo can jump straight upward about three to four feet into the air. This reflex may help scare off predators in the wild. Unfortunately, many armadillos are killed when they jump into the underside of moving vehicles." The second site links to a later edit of the same article.

The original source cites two "further reading."

I was able to track down Grzimek's animal life encyclopedia. On page 159, we see the following: "Every unexpected noise elicits a reflexive jump, so that instead of being run over by the wheels, the armadillos are hit in the air."

I have been unable to track down The amazing armadillo. I may have to visit the library for this one.

Half an hour of googling has uncovered articles claiming pretty extraordinary numbers as high as 5 feet. But I have been unable to find any primary source substantiating claims of a vertical 3-4 foot leap.

Considering that 9 banded Armadillo are common in the southeast USA, I figured maybe I could find photographic or video evidence:

Videos:

armadillo jump by "Armadillo Outlaws" on youtube shows an impassioned little hop, but nowhere near 3 feet.

Jumping armadillo by "Outdoor Smiths" on youtube shows a similar jump.

Photos:

On google images, there is a modest number of "jumping" Armadillo getting a couple inches off the ground. The ONLY photo I could find showing anything approaching 3 feet seems to be a series of 3 images. These images all show the same armadillo suspended about one body length in the air. All 3 images seem to portray the same armadillo jumping in front of the same ferns from slightly different directions at slightly different moments in time. These 3 images seem to belong to National Geographic, and appear in at least two of their articles. A kids article. and for general audiences. A third perspective can be found on this random website.

The second one is captioned "A frightened armadillo leaps into the air at a Florida research station. Photograph by Bianca Lavies, National Geographic"

Now, I don't mean to disparage the veracity of these images, but I have no reason not to think that they set up three cameras and some lights out behind the Florida research station and tossed the Armadillo into frame. I have no evidence for this, but it seems at least as plausible as this being the only documented case of an armadillo jumping more than a few inches.

conclusion:

9 banded Armadillo do seem to have a characteristic "hop" when startled. But it seems to be mischaracterized as a vertical leap. From my observations it seems more like a sudden hop forwards or a burst of speed.

Likewise, the height of the jump seems to be more in line with what you'd expect of an animal its size. Perhaps less than the height of their body. I don't know if this would warrant comment in a wiki article.

In the comments to Jumping armadillo by "Outdoor Smiths" users share anecdotal tales about Armadillo striking the bottom of their trucks, jumping as high as their torso, as well as incredulity at other youtuber's claims of "12 foot jumps." It may be possible that they CAN jump this high, but I can't find any source that I would consider reliable.

Even the more reasonable conception that they jump into the bottom of vehicles may be overstated. The F-150 truck has a ground clearance of about 9 inches, and our very own article on the animal states nine-banded armadillos measure about 5.9–9.8 inches at the top of the shell. This means that even a small Armadillo would only need to raise their body a few inches to almost guarantee a strike on a common truck, and probably just about any Armadillo would become entangled with the bottom of any sedan. Georgia1978 (talk) 17:20, 14 February 2025 (UTC)