Armadillos showing up in S. Illinois

The Southern Illinoisan

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- At least it's not cougars this time.

Dr. Clay Nielsen, an ecologist with Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab, says there have been a number of confirmed reports about a strange critter not typically associated with Southern Illinois -- the armadillo.

There are 20 species of armadillo. The nine-banded is the one said to be showing up in Southern Illinois. Such armadillos are about the size of a house cat, armored, football shaped, with long noses and long tails. They grunt and have a musky odor. They are really good diggers, they can run fast if properly motivated and they eat insects. When startled, they can bounce about 4 feet into the air.

"It's really too early to tell how they'll fit in here," Nielsen said. "A lot of our wildlife in this area is close to urban or populated areas. If coyotes and bobcats can fit in, I'm sure armadillos can."

Nielsen said no one is currently tracking armadillo sightings. He doesn't know if there are enough armadillos here to constitute a breeding population.

The Illinois Natural History Survey Reports noted there have been 80 armadillo sightings in recent years, primarily in 22 southwestern Illinois counties.

Nielsen said the northward march of the armadillo is likely to stop at central Illinois, where it is too cold for the armadillo to thrive.

"They don't seem to pose any major threats to the ecosystem," he said. "People aren't going to be scared of them. They won't have near the impact cougars would have (if they migrated to southern Illinois)."