ARMADILLO, a family of South American mammals (Dasypidæ), belonging to the order Edentata, and distinguished by the peculiar nature of their external covering. This consists of a bony case, partly composed of solid buckler-like plates, and partly of movable transverse bands, the latter differing in number with the species, and, to a certain extent, with the age and sex of the individual, and giving to the entire body a considerable degree of flexibility. The under parts are destitute of bony covering, but in every case are more or less thickly covered with hair. The legs of the armadillo are short, and its movements usually slow, although, when pursued, it is said to be able to outrun a man. In danger, however, it chiefly depends for safety on its long, powerful claws, by which it can bury itself, in a few minutes, several feet below the surface of the ground. Most of the species are nocturnal in their habits, with small, weak eyes, but highly developed organs of hearing and smelling. They all possess molar teeth, and, with the exception of a single species, those only. Their food consists principally of fruits, roots, worms, and insects, but a few species are more carnivorous, greedily devouring the semi-putrid carcases of the wild cattle of the pampas, and even, it is said, burrowing into human graves. All the species are eaten by the natives and by the Portuguese and Spanish settlers, who esteem them a delicacy when roasted in the shell. The habitat of the armadilloes, extending from Mexico and Texas southward to Patagonia, is the region which, during the Tertiary period, was inhabited by the Glyptodons—gigantic armadilloes as large as the rhinoceros, whose remains are found abundantly in the bone-caves of Brazil.
