Armadillo

The other day we had an armadillo come to our backyard. It walked around our car and tried to even get under our fence. I had never seen one this close up before. I thought it was cute in the face with its beady little eyes and cute ears. It's ears looked like a little rabbit's ears, only not as fuzzy.
FYI, armadillos are mammals even though they look a little scaly. If you have ever seen one dead with its feet sticking up in the air, then you probably saw the hair on its belly--Yep, it's a mammal! They do have small eyes with poor eyesight. They rely on their great sense of smell. They dig in the ground for their food. Their body temperature is lower than ours so they can carry leprosy. They get it from digging because leprosy is found in the soil.
Another interesting fact about armadillos is that they recently migrated up from South/Central America. The first armadillo in southwest Oklahoma was seen sometime around 1970. They do not like cold weather and are able to live here because our winters have been getting milder through the years.
Something kind of funny about armadillos: Since armadillos don't like cold weather, they are not usually seen in the winter and come back out in the spring. Most people don't see armadillos except as roadkill. Instead of watching the groundhog and his shadow to find out if winter will stay or spring will come, Oklahomans watch for the first roadkill armadillo. This is a sure sign that spring is on the way!