Knight in Fleshy Armor
The only one of the twenty species of armadillo to live outside of Latin America, the Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) makes its home throughout much of the southeast. This adorable one—with three of his friends—trundled across my path sniffing for insects with its spade-like nose. With their horrible eyesight, armadillos tend to rely on their sense of smell to figure out what is around them. I found this to be the case even with this chap, who came up to my sneaker and sniffed it before realizing that I was not a tree stump (or humungous and delicious beetle, perhaps).
Knight in Fleshy Armor
The only one of the twenty species of armadillo to live outside of Latin America, the Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) makes its home throughout much of the southeast. This adorable one—with three of his friends—trundled across my path sniffing for insects with its spade-like nose. With their horrible eyesight, armadillos tend to rely on their sense of smell to figure out what is around them. I found this to be the case even with this chap, who came up to my sneaker and sniffed it before realizing that I was not a tree stump (or humungous and delicious beetle, perhaps).