The “Facts” About Armadillos

Reader Contribution by Linda And Burt Crume
Published on December 13, 2017
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My first awareness of armadillos involved family road trips from northeastern Oklahoma, where armadillos didn’t seem to exist 50-60 years ago, to the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico, where armadillos did exist. The highways we traveled on our family trips were scattered with dead armadillos that had met their demise jumping bumper-height when scared by rapidly approaching automobiles.

Armadillo means “little armored thing” in Spanish. They originated in South America and 9,000-year-old records exist of recipes for the preparation and ingestion of these mammals. One recipe calls for roasting the armadillo in its shell. Modern researchers have tested the recipe, and it appears to be genuine. More modern recipes can be found on the internet, and Texans love the creature enough to have named it the state mammal, although I haven’t found the official state recipe (nor have I looked for it).

When I started this blog piece, I was certain that I knew much about armadillos. I knew that they dug multiple holes in my lawn and garden while they searched for grubs, worms and insects. I knew they were nocturnal and were rarely seen before dusk and after dawn. I knew they dug burrows for hiding during the day and to have a place to bear offspring. I knew that the litter was always of four same-sex creatures.

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