Southern Three-banded Armadillo

Tolypeutes matacus
Range: The South American countries of Bolivia, Brazil,
Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina.

Habitat: Open areas such as savannas, shrubland, and dry

semi-deciduous forests.

Diet: They are omnivorous and will eat plant material (including bromeliad fruit, tubers,
palm nuts) composes 90% of the diet. Insects like ants, termites, carrion, and small
vertebrates such as frogs, birds, and rats are also eaten. They will also occasionally feed on
dead carcasses by standing on them and ripping off pieces held in their jaws.

Lifespan: They can live 8-12 years in the wild, and up to 20 years in captivity.

Description: They are moderately hairy and yellow to red-brown in color. They have short
limbs with sharp claws. Their protective shell is made of bony plates called scutes covered
with horny skin. Three-banded armadillos have 3 moveable bands on the shell. The
underside of their body is made of skin and soft hairs. They range from 9-13 inches long and
weigh between 2 and 4 pounds.

Breeding: The Breeding season runs from October to January. After a 120-day gestation,
females usually give birth to 1 baby that is the size of a golf ball. The baby is fully developed
and can curl into a ball immediately after birth. The baby stays with its mother for 72 days.
Armadillos are considered mature at 9 months old.

Behavior/Adaptations: Three-banded armadillos are mostly nocturnal. They are poor

diggers and typically use abandoned Anteater burrows. Armadillos are solitary but will
occasionally share a burrow with other individuals.
If they feel threatened by predators, they will freeze and curl into a ball. They leave a small
gap and when a predator puts a paw into the hole, they will clamp their shell shut. protecting
their vulnerable underside.

Predators: Jaguarondis, jaguars, cougars, wild dogs, alligators, maned wolves, and humans
who eat them for meat.

Conservation: They are considered a near threatened by the IUCN due to over hunting and
habitat loss.

Interesting Facts:
• Three-banded armadillos are the only type of armadillo that can completely close into
a ball.
• “Armadillo” is Spanish for little armored thing.
• Armadillo head plates are unique to each armadillo, like human fingerprints.
• All armadillos are found in the new world (Americas), most likely originating in South
America.
• They can smell a worm 8 inches underground.
• Southern three-banded armadillos can swim. Their shell is not attached to the sides of
their bodies so they can fill those gaps with air and float across a river or fill those gaps
with water and sink to the bottom of the river to walk across it.
 • They belong to the group Xenarthra and are related to anteaters and sloths. Animals
in this group are only found in the Americas.

Empathy Stories/Messages
Three-banded armadillos can smell insects eight inches underground. Do you find
your food by smelling? Imagine you’re an armadillo and you’re outside smelling for
food. What types of bugs do you smell? Do they smell good or bad? How do you feel
when you find a bug? As a person, how would you feel if you ate a bug?
The three-banded armadillo is the only type of armadillo that can curl its body into a
ball. The armadillo’s shell keeps it safe from predators. Pretend you are an armadillo
walking around the South American grasslands. Suddenly you see movement behind
you, and you smell a fox. You curl up into a ball and leave a small gap. The fox tries to
put its paw into the gap, and you snap your shell shut! The fox screams and you open
your shell slightly. The fox runs off and you go back to hunting bugs. How did the
armadillo feel? How did the fox feel? Is a shell good protection for three-banded
armadillos?

Lake Superior Zoo Conservation Message

Story (ages 6 and up): Armadillos are very sensitive to changes in their
environment that can happen because of increased greenhouse gasses like carbon
dioxide.

What you can do: Saving energy helps to reduce carbon, which reduces the effects of
climate change. We can help animals like armadillos by asking our parents if we can
walk/ride our bike to our friends’ houses instead of driving. We can also conserve
energy to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses by turning off lights when we leave
a room, and unplugging electronics that aren’t being used.

Information taken from the following sources:

https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/animals/three-banded-armadillo
https://louisvillezoo.org/animalsandplants/armadillo-southern-three-banded/
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/la-plata-three-banded-armadillo
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Tolypeutes_matacus/