The Modern Armadillo and the Prehistoric Glyptodon Essay

The Armadillo is a very different creature. It has tremendous claws,but no fighting instinct. They have teeth, but not in front, except forthe milk teeth some have during infancy. They have long tongues becausethey catch insects. A strange thing which these animals have is a coatarmor, unique among other animals. They have bony plate armor on theoutside of their bodies'. Each species has a different pattern for everylittle plate they carry. They all are great burrowers. They sink a holewith them in it as one approaches. It takes a good man to haul even alittle one back if it is halfway down it's retreat under the ground. They are active, running with a tiptoe trot. Their trot is as an agedpony that is tired. They have a varied diet. They hunt by night. Today's Armadillos are not the biggest armadillos that have everexisted. The soil of South America is full of larger Armadillo bones fromthe past. Some of the past bones were as much as sixteen feet longincluding the tail. Some even migrated to Texas. There are several species of these animals. The Six-banded Armadilloswere good burrowers and massive devourers of insects. They also atevegetable matter and were useful for devouring carrion. One specie calledthe Peludo was clumsy bet was effective in getting a snake to its armoredhide and grinding the life out of it. It then eats the snake not effectedby the poison. The king of the tribe is the Great Armadillo. It is a bigcreature in appearance, a yard in length from nose to tail covered with thearmor. It even has armor on its legs. Its claws are very long and awfullystrong. The Three- banded Armadillos had a further protection. They areable to curl up like a hedgehog and present an impenetrable ball to anenemy. It is similar than that of a hedgehog or the porcupine, but it ismore interesting because of the way they fit themselves...