Armadillo

CRIKEY!

I heard there's been a mysterious creature running afoot in our backyard. Let's take a look! I'm all ready to investigate in my Crocodile Dundee-inspired outfit.

We've noticed some small holes in our garden bed and around the yard. Interestingly, these don't show up until the next morning, so it must have been the work of something during the night but what could it be?

We noticed a hole under the shrubs over here, so perhaps whatever it is has a home here. Let's set out some humane traps with bait. That's cat food and chopped fruit in the dish, both meat and vegetarian options for our mystery guest.

THE NEXT DAY...

Look! We caught something in the trap! I have never seen anything like it before. Do you know what it is?

No, it's not the Loch Ness monster... it's a nine-banded armadillo!

Their body is protected by hard armored plates and they have strong claws for digging. Their eyesight is not very good, so they look for insects to eat using their very sensitive and long tongue. Their tongue can detect worms and other bugs up to a foot underground.

We checked this armadillo, and it's a boy. If it was female, then we'd be concerned about baby armadillos still in the nest. But armadillos are pretty much solitary animals so we think this guy was just chilling out in his little armadillo cave.

I know you want to get out, little guy. We'll set you free soon.

We brought him - we named him Tank - to a nice forested area where he can dig for even more insects. He back had a small scrape on it but it was sprayed with antibiotic before he was set free.

Good luck, Tank!