An armadillo shell comes to school!

Dara brought an armadillo shell or armour to school today for show and tell. A friend of her family found this at the recycling centre. This caused a great deal of excitement and interest. Not many of us knew much about these animals so the first thing we did was google it. First we went to wikipaedia but the information was very hard for us to read and understand. We then changed our search to 'armadillo info for kids and found some great sites. Read some of the info we found out.

• The necks and backs of giant armadillos are covered in flexible "armour"
• Their heads are protected by a similar oval shield
• Giant armadillos are dark brown except for their heads, tails and the lower edges of their shells, which are nearly white
• Their front feet have large powerful claws
• Armadillos can live 12 to 15 years
• They live in burrows near water in grassland, brush-land, woodland and forest habitats
• They are omnivores
• Giant armadillos are endangered
• They are distant cousins of the anteater and sloth
• They rarely hurry but can run fast when chased by a predator
• The shell provides insulation ( a bit like pink bats in houses or our clothes on us!)

This is the most interesting fact we found!!

The armadillo has a particularly interesting way for crossing water. Its heavy armor shell causes it to sink. When it comes to a narrow stream or a water filled ditch, the armadillo will simply walk across the bottom, under water. However, when up against a bigger river, the armadillo will swallow enough air to inflate its stomach to twice its normal size. This increased buoyancy makes the armadillo float so it can swim across. Afterwards, it takes the armadillo several hours to release all the excess air from its body.