- Armadillos are excellent swimmers who can hold their breath for up to six minutes underwater, when crossing narrow streams, they will often walk across the bottom of the stream by digging their claws into the soil instead of swimming across. For wider bodies of water, they are able to inflate their intestines to increase buoyancy and swim across!
- Armadillos get a bad reputation for carrying the bacteria that causes Hansen’s disease (commonly known as leprosy). While it’s true that some armadillos do carry the bacteria, it is extremely uncommon for it to be passed on to people. Hansen’s disease is typically spread through prolonged contact with the infected and cannot be passed on from casual contact.
- Armadillos generally give birth to identical quadruplets every year! When an armadillo gets pregnant, a single fertilized egg develops into four separate embryos which all have the same DNA.
NPS Photo / Cory Cravatta
Sources
Bagatto, B., Crossley, D. A., & Burggren, W. W. (2000). Physiological variability in neonatal armadillo quadruplets: within-and between-litter differences. Journal of Experimental Biology, 203(11), 1733-1740.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hansen's Disease (Leprosy) Transmission.
Taber, F. W. (1945). Contribution on the life history and ecology of the nine-banded armadillo. Journal of Mammalogy, 26(3), 211-226.
Last updated: February 8, 2021
