Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ARMADILLO

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 561 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

ARMADILLO , the See also:

Spanish designation for the small See also:mail-clad Central and See also:South See also:American mammals of the See also:order See also:Edentata, constituting the See also:family Dasypodidae. The See also:armature consists,of a bony See also:case, partly composed of solid buckler-like plates, and partly of movable transverse bands, the latter differing in number with the See also:species, and giving to the See also:body a considerable degree of flexibility. The bony plates are overlain by horny scales. Armadillos are omnivorous, feeding on roots, See also:insects, See also:worms, See also:reptiles and carrion, and are mostly, though not universally, Peba Armadillo (Tatusia novemcincta). nocturnal. They are harmless and inoffensive creatures, offering no resistance when caught; their See also:principal means of See also:escape being the extraordinary rapidity with which they burrow in the ground, and the tenacity with which they retain their hold in their subterranean retreats. Notwithstanding the shortness of their limbs they run with rapidity. Most of the species are esteemed See also:good eating by the natives of the countries in which they live. They are all inhabitants of the open plains or the forests of the tropical and temperate parts of South See also:America, with the exception of a few species which range as far See also:north as See also:Texas. The largest species is the See also:giant armadillo (Priodon gigas), measuring nearly a yard See also:long, from the forests of Surinam and See also:Brazil; while one of the smallest is Dasypus minutus, a near ally of the larger D. sexcinctus. The peba (Tatusia novemcincta) represents a See also:group with a large number of movable bands in the See also:armour; while the apar (Tolypeutes tricinctus) and the other members of the same genus are remarkable for their See also:power of See also:rolling themselves up into balls. For the distinctive characters of these and the other genera see EDENTATA.

End of Article: ARMADILLO

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ARMADA, THE 		[next]
ARMAGEDDON

Site © 2006 - Net Industries