Okay, it’s time for one or two funny or heartening things.
Who would have thought that armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) would be so affectionate. This one even seems like it wants a belly rub.
Armadillos are in the order Cingulata, and the only family in that order is Dasypodidae, the armadillos. There are only about 20 species in the order, then, making it one of the smallest mammalian orders. (Chiroptera, the order containing bats, has over 1200 species.)
h/t: Jim
I think it wants to ride around in th guy’s pant cuffs;-)
Hello…..They carry Leprosy.
I checked YouTube to see how many have viewed this, and in the comments it said armadillos can spread leprosy. A quick Google led to an article that says “Yes, You Can Get Leprosy From an Armadillo.”
Maybe we should put this in the category of don’t try at home?
I friggin’ love armadillos.
Their grunts are cute and they love human contact( well, some of them, not all! )
Friend told me of a pet armadillo who lived in a couple’s trailer. It had long hair. Idea was that the hair gets rubbed off when they burrow in nature.
Armadillo sounds are cute, as is the “kootchie-kootchie-koo” language of the humans in this video. 🙂
Is the human language some form of Spanish?
Portuguese perhaps.
Possibly…it didn’t quite sound like either Portuguese or Spanish, but something close??
Sounded like Portuguese to me.
Speaking of cute armadillos, I came across this video of one playing with a ball this weekend. Look at how daintily he runs with those dainty feet!
Armadillos have an impressive escape tactic – leaping vertically into the air. If you stand still they will blunder right past you; particularly endearing is when they have a train of babies following. However, the escape tactic can have consequences to people who coo with delight at an armadillo at their feet – the surprised ‘dillo will shoot straight up in the air and hit the unsuspecting person in the crotch or even face. This is usually funny, but not when it happened to me.
They are common in my part of Texas. Leaping into the air when alarmed is not the best survival tactic on the highway. Vehicle wheels may miss them, but they leap up into the under-carriage and meet their maker.(ceiling diller?) Very common road-kill in much of Texas.
My joke (which doesn’t need to be explained to a Texan):
Why did the chicken cross the road?
To demonstrate to the armadillo that it actually could be done.
Road-killed armadillos are more common on the roads here around Athens, Georgia than are the “prototypical” road-killed ‘possums. I had lived here almost six years before I saw one that was alive. Not sure if they truly have bad eyesight, but the one I saw walking around was oblivious to my presence.
The language is Portuguese, this was filmed in Brazil.
Thanks for the clarification.
I’m pretty sure that’s a six-banded armadillo, Euphractus sexcinctus, from South America.