Nine-banded Armadillo

Description:

The Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) has a protective armor (Armadillo means “armored” in Spanish) which is made up of plates of hardened skin connected by elastic skin underneath, making them surprisingly flexible. 
Their undersides are soft, unarmored, and loosely covered with course hair. 
Nine-banded Armadillos are excellent diggers and live in underground burrows up to 7 feet deep and 20 feet long. 
They prefer forested or semi-open habitats with loose textured soil that allows them to dig easily. 
They are insectivores that use their keen sense of smell to locate their food as their eyesight is notably poor. 
They forage for grubs, beetles, worms, and ants by digging shallow holes with their clawed feet and probing the soil with their long snouts.
They are most active at night.
Interestingly, females always give birth to identical quadruplets, either all female or all male. 

Osprey Trail, Honeymoon Island State Park, Florida, USA, 25 March 2022

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