BEAUTIES OF BRP: The Armadillo

Brasil Raft Park is also in the world cup mood: there’s no shortage of joy, sportsmanship and relaxation here! Furthermore, on the outskirts of the park we found an armadillo, but not the Fuleco (the giant armadillo that is the canopy’s mascot)… we found an armadillo of another species, theGreat Armadillo. The sticker walked around very beautifully, and even looked into the lenses of the Brazil team while being clicked.

The nine-banded armadillo is also known as the true armadillo, leaf armadillo, deer armadillo and armadillo, but its scientific name is Dasypus novemcinctus L.. It can be found from the United States to Northern Argentina and Brazil. This species of armadillo has an almost bare carapace, quite convex and laterally compressed, with nine bands of movable plates, an elongated head, small eyes, large ears, an armored shell that protects it against predators and a long, conical tail with a thin tip. It can reach 80 cm as an adult.

But why Armadillo? Well, the name is a reference to the fact that it has feather-like hair on its paws.

A curious characteristic distinguishes the armadillo from other species: the female always gives birth to four young of the same sex. This phenomenon is called polyembryony.

Did you know that the armadillo is “ours”? Yes, he likes water! It crosses not very wide watercourses without breathing, walking calmly on the bottom. If the river is very wide, it fills its lungs and intestines with air and swims half-immersed, with only the end of its snout out of the water. This is an animal that is heavily hunted by humans, which has been reducing populations in some places at a very serious rate. But here at Brasil Raft Park that doesn’t happen, quite the opposite: they are admired and always very welcome. After all, they are part of the beauties that our park offers.