Armadillos are common in grasslands, forests, wetlands, and semi-desert areas of America. These regions provide plenty of sandy or loose soil environments where they can dig and excavate.
Their ability to adapt to wildly different habitats affords them a high degree of biological adaptability.
These tiny herbivores (their bodies are barely more significant than a tennis ball) have pointed snouts, short legs, a long tail, sharp claws, and big ears. Their most exciting feature, the scaly outer shell, provides a shield resembling armor holding most of the head, body, and legs.
Its diet consists of arthropods, ants, insects, termites, fruits, and plants. They can also consume nesting birds and their eggs occasionally.
They are competent hunters using their sharp claws to dig large tunnels in the ground. These tunnels serve as homes, are comfortable, and protect the critters from predators.
The animal’s social habits are pretty flexible, depending on the situation. Most of the time, this pest thrives in solitary and is mainly a nocturnal animal.
They can spend up to 16 hours per day asleep, usually in burrows. They rarely share their burrow with others; however, they can share them with snakes, tortoises, and rats.
They are vulnerable to attacks by predators, including jaguars, coyotes, bobcats, wolves, bears, large hawks, and other birds of prey. The shaggy fur covering is crucial to their defense. If it fails, it attacks with its claws or tries to play lifeless.
Some species reproduce year-round, while others reproduce only at certain times of the year. Male armadillos rely on their superior sense of smell to locate a female for mating.