Rick Parker, age 8, of Baton Rouge, La., for his question:
WHERE CAN YOU FIND WILD ARMADILLOS?
Armadillos are any of several small American mammals with bony plates in their upper body skins. Various kinds can be found living wild in North and South America from Argentina to Texas and Louisiana.
Armadillos have strong claws which they use to dig tunnels and burrows in the ground. They usually eat insects, earthworms, spiders and land snails. They use their long, narrow tongues to lick up insects.
Because they only have small teeth well back in their mouths, armadillos cannot bite in self defense.
An armadillo's shell is its best protection. The shell is made up of many small plates of bony armor fitted closely together. It is hard and stiff, but is jointed across the animal's back.
The jointing of the bony armor allows one type of armadillo to curl itself up into a hard, 'tight ball with the shell on the outside, its head and feet tucked in out of the way of enemies.
But the armadillo will hide in its shell only as a last resort. It usually hurries into its burrow at the first sign of danger.
When an armadillo is too far away from home, it may try to dig itself rapidly into the ground if it has time to do so.
The nine banded armadillo is the only kind that lives wild in the United States. The hinges of its shell consist of nine narrow bands of armor that slide upon one another. This armadillo is about 2 feet long, including its tail, and it weighs up to 15 pounds. The female gives birth to four babies at a time, always of the same sex.
Although the nine banded armadillo is the only kind found in the U.S., there are other types with either three or six bands across their backs. These animals are found in countries farther to the south.
The armadillo is an "edentate." An edentate is any one of a group of animals that have incomplete sets of teeth or no teeth at all. In addition to the armadillo, the anteater and the sloth are the only other living edentates in the world today.
Many people say that the flesh of all armadillos is excellent for eating.
All of the edentates are common in South America, but they are also found in large numbers throughout Central America.
The armadillo is the only edentate that lives wild in the U.S. They can be found living in Louisiana, Texas, southern Oklahoma and in parts of Arkansas, Mississippi and Florida.
The giant armadillo is about 3 feet long, while some varieties of the animal only grow to be about 6 inches long. Fossil remains have been found in South America of now extinct gigantic armadillos.