Their appearance is comical — a compact body, with the profile of a loaf of bread, covered by bony plates and scales.
The legs seem way too short, but have grotesquely long “toenails.” The head is small with a pointed pig-like snout. The ears are pointy and erect, like the ears on a Chihuahua dog.
They have a hairy belly, which is exposed when they stand upright on their hind legs. But this curious critter, the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), is no laughing matter.
It’s an unwanted exotic species that can be a carrier of leprosy, a chronic infectious human disease caused by bacteria that mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, and eyes.
Armadillos crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in the mid-19th century and has been expanding its range in the U.S., steadily moving north and eastward, to Kentucky and beyond (Photo Provided)
James Loughry, a zoologist and armadillo expert at Valdosta State University in Georgia, said armadillos that have been exposed to the bacteria that causes leprosy, or are actually carrying the bacteria, are more widespread that previously thought.
Animals testing positive have popped up in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama.
“Until 2005, most of the positives were west of the Mississippi River, along the Gulf Coast,” said Loughry, who tests both road kills and live animals.
With a blood test it can be determined if the armadillo has been exposed to the leprosy bacteria, but DNA testing of spleen and lymph node tissue is required to find out if the bacteria is present in the armadillo.
Loughry said at this time there is strong indirect evidence that “leprosy can be transmitted from armadillos to humans.”
Range Expansion in the United States
Of the 20 known species of armadillos, the nine-banded armadillo is the most widely distributed, and the only species to have ventured north of Mexico. Armadillos crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in the mid-19th century and have been expanding their range in the U.S., steadily moving north and eastward, to Kentucky and beyond.
The nine-banded armadillo has become established as far east as South Carolina and as far west as southern Nebraska. To the north of Kentucky, armadillos have found a home in southern Illinois and southern Indiana.
While humans have no doubt played a part in the armadillo’s range expansion into some areas, range expansion “has been consistent over the years, and is the continuation of a long-term trend,” said Loughry.
Today, armadillos are established in at least 12 southeastern states, and slowly moving into the Appalachians, and up the Atlantic coast.
“It doesn’t seem like they are moving northward very quickly,” said Loughry. “There have been reports of road kills near Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the Cumberland Plateau, but it’s not clear if it’s a year-round population there. They are not very abundant.”
Loughry said in the 1980s armadillos in Florida and Georgia merged with populations coming east from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Rivers, lakes and small streams are no obstacle to range expansion.
“It’s a misconception that they’re desert animals. Armadillos are more adapted to swamps and riparian areas where there’s wet soil,” said Loughry.
Factors that may be fueling this expansion include: a warming climate, the armadillo’s general adaptability, abundant food sources, little desire on the part of humans to hunt or eat armadillos, and the mammal’s high reproductive rate.
Armadillos in Land Between the Lakes
Anecdotal evidence suggests that armadillos first appeared in western Kentucky in the early 1990s. Steve Bloemer, wildlife program manager at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL) recalls that the first report of a road kill was in Aurora, Kentucky, at the western entrance to LBL, on U.S. 68 in Marshall County.
“First there were reports from several counties in the region, then we started finding road kills in LBL, and eventually we started seeing live armadillos here,” said Bloemer, who has worked as a biologist on the 170,000-acre area bordered by Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley since 1982.
The first confirmed sighting of a live armadillo in LBL was in the spring of 2002 when a farmer on a tractor saw an armadillo feeding at the edge of a field.
Bloemer said he believes armadillos may have been present in the Tennessee River and Cumberland River bottoms for years before entering LBL. “At first we were getting a disproportionate number of sightings on the north end of LBL, especially from campers driving in and out of the Hillman Ferry Campground.”
The busy campground is just a few miles south of the Barkley Canal, which connects the two huge reservoirs near their dams. Bloemer said in 2010 he received a report from a bow fisherman who saw an armadillo swimming the Cumberland River.
“Armadillo populations in LBL were increasing slowly over time, but in recent years sightings have gone down,” said Bloemer “This is anecdotal evidence, we don’t have a formal study. We get reports of sightings throughout LBL, but most are in the north end.”
Armadillos in Central and Eastern Kentucky
Biologists with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) began getting reports from across the state of armadillo road kills and then live armadillos, in the early 2000s.
“The first road-killed armadillo I encountered in Kentucky was in 2003, and first live one I saw was in 2006,” said John MacGregor, a herpetologist with KDFWR.
MacGregor said in the late 2000s there were several confirmed sightings by staff biologists in eastern and south central Kentucky, as far east as Knott county, and as far south as McCreary County.
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Steve Bonney, a wildlife biologist and the department’s regional coordinator in the Northeast Region in 2009, encountered a road-killed armadillo in Rowan County on the way to work. “I routinely record road kills. When I saw what I thought was an armadillo, my radar went off,” said Bonney. “It kind of shocked me.”
When he arrived at work, he immediately hopped into his department truck and drove back to the site of the road kill, on Ky. 801 in Farmers, Ky., to photograph and pick up the armadillo.
In Kentucky, the nine-banded armadillo is considered an exotic species and may be taken anytime by licensed hunters.
Life History Information
Armadillos are mammals. Primarily nocturnal, they like to dig in loose soil, leaf litter and rotting logs, feeding on grubs, beetles, ants, termites, and worms, which they lap up with a sticky tongue. They also will eat amphibians, and small reptiles, fungi, and plant tubers.
Nine-banded armadillos typically weigh 12 to 22 pounds, with an overall length of 20 to 42 inches, including their long pointed tails. In the wild they can live for 15 to 20 years. Getting run over by vehicles on roads, or eaten by coyotes, are two of their highest mortality factors.
Armadillos become sexually mature before they reach age two, and have a two to three month mating season during the summer. A single fertilized egg develops into four identical embryos. The gestation period is four months long.
Young remain underground, living on mother’s milk for three months, before leaving their burrow.
The armadillo’s outer shell is made up of hardened bony plates covered with scales, which are connected by flexible bands of skin. This armor covers the back, sides, head, tail, and outside surfaces of the legs. The underside of the body and the inner surfaces of the legs have no armored protection, but are covered by tough skin and a layer of coarse hair.
Armadillos don’t swim well, but they gulp air to inflate their stomach and intestines, and that helps them float. They can traverse smaller streams by sinking to the bottom and walking across to the other side.
Armadillos do not store fat on their bodies, so they are susceptible to cold weather mortality. In winter, they do not hibernate, so food availability is also an issue that affects their survival, and ultimately their range expansion.
Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for NKyTribune and KyForward. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.
