Armadillo invasion

Long claws, ideal for digging. A bump-covered snout, perfect for sniffing bugs up to six inches under the ground.

Bands of hard shell around its trunk.

Meet Dasypus novemcinctus.

No, it's not a creature from a science fiction movie, but it was alien to this part of Southeast Missouri until recent decades.

In comparison with the rest of the animal kingdom, "weird" is the best way Missouri Conservation Department agent A.J. Hendershott can describe the armadillo.

"They are really a bizarre mammal," said Hendershott. "They have hard plates but have hair, and they provide milk. And when they give birth, they always have identical quadruplets -- either four girls or four boys."

Armadillos exist only in North and South America and are most closely related to species of the sloth or anteater.

There's a reason you're most likely to see them laying on the side of the road than anywhere else at this time of the year.

"Armadillos have an interesting anti-predator strategy," Hendershott said. "When they're being chased, they can stop and jump. That's a bad strategy in the middle of Interstate 55 when you're about to be straddled by a semi-truck."

History of the armadillo

Hendershott said armadillos have not always been native to Missouri.

Wildlife surveys by early explorers in the 1700s, 1800 and even the mid-1900s show no signs of the hard-shelled mammal, Hendershott said.

According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, early Spanish explorers first dubbed the creatures armadillos, meaning "little armored one."

But in the mid-1900s, armadillos began migrating north from Mexico, entering Texas and eventually making their way east to Missouri.

Hendershott said they now populate every county in Missouri south of the Missouri River as well as parts of Kansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina.

The species in Missouri is the nine-banded armadillo, which arrived in this state in the 1980s but became more common in Southeast Missouri in the last five years.

Armadillo problems

Although complaints are not as frequent as those concerning raccoons or opposums, Hendershott said the conservation department does occasionally receive phone calls about armadillos.

They dig for their food -- usually bugs -- in the ground, often causing havok on carefully landscaped lawns.

The animals are primarily nocturnal, though they can be active in daytime during the winter.

While Hendershott does not recommend approaching armadillos, he said they can be interesting to observe.

"They're kind of fun. They run in a zig-zag pattern, then they may forget they're being chased and just stop," Hendershott said.

cmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128