Now, here’s something you may not have thought about, but they’re coming.
They colonized Texas and the Gulf Coast first. Then they were introduced to Florida. In recent decades, they’ve taken Arkansas, most of Missouri, and they are becoming more and more common in Illinois.
Now, I should state that this particular invader isn’t all that bad. It’s a relatively innocuous creature that eats mostly insects and occasionally scavenges when their invertebrate prey becomes scarce. About the worst thing you can say about them is that they sometimes dig up landscaped lawns.
The species I’m talking about is the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus). Now, during the last Ice Age, a relative of this species lived in much of the central and eastern US. It was called the beautiful armadillo, and it was believed to have looked just like the nine-banded species, just significantly larger.
Twenty years ago, it was believed that the nine-banded armadillo would not expand its range into the northern half of Missouri. Ten years before that, it was accepted wisdom that the armadillo would have never made it north of Arkansas. Today, we wonder exactly how much of Illinois they are going to colonize.
This species has been introduced to Florida, and from there, it has expanded its range as far north as South Carolina. It has already colonized much of East Tennessee, except for the higher elevations. I don’t know when my state will get them, but it’s just a matter of time until we do.
In fact, here is there projected range map:
The area in red is where the nine-banded armadillo currently lives. The pink area is the projected range for the species.
Yes, there could armadillos on Cape Cod, in Manhattan, and in the leafy suburbs of Pittsburgh. If these animals were introduced to California, they would thrive in most of the state and then would expand their range northward up the Pacific Coast into British Columbia.
And if you thought Virginia opossums were the strangest animals around, wait ’til you get armadillos!
armadillos are really freaky. They are one of the few animals that get Leprosy, because they have a low body temperature, and they give birth to four identical babies, quadruplets. When I lived in Florida, we used to see them squished on the road all the time.
Just to extend the previous comment about quadruplets. They have delayed implantation, too. That is, the fertilized eggs don’t implant in the uterus until after several months. Then, each implanted embryo divides into 4. So, not only are they quadruplets, but they are identical quadruplets.
Bears also have delayed implantation. They mate in mid-summer, but the embryo doesn’t implant until the sow goes into hibernation. That’s why bear cubs are born in such an undeveloped state.
My husband is from mid-Missouri and he would tell me that very occasionally they would see an armadillo. I thought he was pulling my leg. To be honest, I thought they were only found in Texas (obviously I did not grow up anywhere close to armadillo range). Imagine my surprise one morning when letting our dogs out while staying with his mom as an armadillo scurried quickly across the yard. Man, those things can really move when they want too.
The only ones I’ve seen have been in Florida, smashed flat along the roadside.
But we’re due to get them in the next few decades. I can’t wait!
The armadillo line has moved north through my home town in middle GA in my lifetime. We used to see only possums and skunks dead on the road. Now there are armadillos.
I haven’t seen armadillos in N. GA. Yet.
When the Europeans came to the New World, opossums lived barely north of the Virginia-NC line (or where it is today). During the Civil War, the National Road (US 40) was the border on opossum range. Today, they are established in Southern Ontario, southern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and most of New England, except northern and “Down East” Maine, the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, and Northern New Hampshire. However, opossums have been spotted in parts of Quebec, and they might eventually colonize much of Eastern Canada.
Knowing that history, I don’t doubt the armadillo’s ability to adapt to colder climates and eventually evolve to handle most of our colder climates here. (Though I do doubt that they will make it to Montreal.)
Wait, you mean that there’s armadillos in Kentucky? Obviously nowhere near Lexington, but they could live here!! I had no idea that they could live so far north
Far western Kentucky.
They make it into central Illinois, so they should be able to handle most of Kentucky.
OK i am a true texan. I see armadillos all the time and they are so hilarious! call me a hick but they are really fun to catch! :)
I thought much like DANI in earlier post “their only in texas” but we have moved to Lake Ozarks MO & in the month we’ve been here I have seen 3 dead along the main hwy. No-one believes me when I tell them. CRAZY.