The first recorded nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) seen in the U.S was in Texas by two men, Audubon & Bachman, in 1849 (Taulman, 1996). However, there is the possibility that these armadillos were introduced prior to that due to reports in the 1830’s and 1840’s sighting nine-banded armadillos east of the Rio Grande (Smith, 1984). The entry zone of the nine-banded armadillo into Texas is considered to be between Brownsville and Rio Grande City (Smith, 1984), which led the armadillo to move northward and extend southeast into favorable conditions. By the 1880’s, nine-banded armadillos were extending their habitats into the western portion of Texas and by the mid-1900’s these creatures had occupied two-thirds of Texas (Smith, 1984).
The nine-banded armadillo, is generally considered an insectivore, in most cases about 75% of their total diet consists of insects (Redford, 1985), like ants, beetles, wasps, caterpillars, roaches, termites, and larvae. Even though the nine-banded armadillo is considered to be an insectivore, it will eat other organisms out of that category, like small reptiles, amphibians, and even dead birds (when held in captivity) (Smith, 1984). There was a study done in 1954, where the stomach contents of 232 Dasypus novemcinctus were looked at. Researchers were able to identify 488 different food items in these nine-banded armadillos from Texas. By volume, 93% of food was of animal origin—78% was insect material, 7% was plant matter, 6% were other anthropods, and 2% were other vertebrates (Redford, 1985).
Another accusation, which has little evidence, is that the nine-banded armadillo feeds on the eggs of ground-nesting birds. A study was done in 1943, where 400 “dummy” quail nests containing half of quail eggs and the other half containing hen eggs were planted and observed by researchers, (Talmage, 1954) as well as a few natural nests. It was found that only a little more than 5% of all nests were evidently destroyed by the nine-banded armadillo (Talmage, 1954). An examination, after this study, was done in 281 stomachs of these nine-banded armadillos. It was found that out of these 281 nine-banded armadillos, only 5 contained bird eggs (Talmage, 1954). It has been noted in most of the research that the possibility of an armadillo breaking an egg is slight, since this is a learned trait rather than instinctive.
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Armadillo's are not native to the continental USA.
Actually, they are. The giant armadillo (Dasypus bellus) migrated out of South America into North America somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago. They went northward as far as the Ohio river valley. The giant armadillo survived here for up to 10,000 years (Nixon, 1995). Then, for unknown reasons, the armadillo became extinct in North America, untill this smaller version re-established themselves north of the Rio Grande.
