Due to the large size and heavy shielding of these animals, giant armadillos have few natural predators. Unlike other armadillos, P. maximus cannot completely hide itself within its carapace. They occasionally fall prey to jaguars (Panthera onca), and pumas (Puma concolor). Humans, however, have had the deadliest impact on the species.
Known Predators:
Priodontes maximus is easily distinguished from other armadillos due to its enormous size. In most cases, it weighs upwards of 26 kg, and measures between 832 and 960 mm. Another recognizable characteristic is its enlarged central claw, much like that of giant anteaters, Myrmecophaga tridactyla. Typical of armadillos, Priodontes maximus has a carapace covered with bony scales. The dorsal portion of this carapace appears black/gray, while the ventral portions of the carapace are much lighter and separated by a noticeable band. Underneath the carapace, the naked body appears wrinkly and pinkish. The legs and tail are covered with tough pentagonal scales. The head is conical, with a blunt rostrum.
Range mass: 18.7 to 32.3 kg.
Average mass: 26.8 kg.
Range length: 832 to 960 mm.
Average length: 895.5 mm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Average basal metabolic rate: 16.892 W.
The lifespan of these animals can reach 12 to 15 years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 12 to 15 years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 4.0 years.
Priodontes maximus is typically found in a diverse range of habitats, usually in areas with a large termite population. Although rare, they have been sighted in tropical and subtropical rainforest, savanna, Brazilian floodplains, and arid and semiarid woodlands. In these areas, the armadillos have been found residing up to 500 meters above sea level.
Range elevation: 0 to 500 m.
Habitat Regions: tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest ; rainforest ; scrub forest
Other Habitat Features: agricultural
Giant armadillos, Priodontes maximus, range through much of the neotropics. They are found from southeastern Venezuela and the Guianas in the north through northeastern Brazil, Paraguay, and the extreme north of Argentina. Most of this species' range lies within the Amazon basin.
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
No information exists suggesting any sort of communication between animals. The strongest sense possessed by armadillos is olfaction, which could support a case for the presence of an olfactory communication channel between individuals. However, this is merely speculation and has yet to be tested.
Tactile communication undoubtedly occurs between a mother and her offspring, as well as between mates.
Communication Channels: tactile ; chemical
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Priodontes maximus is a victim of habitat infringement and overhunting. Many native farmers kill the armadillo on sight because they are thought to damage crops.
US Federal List: endangered
CITES: appendix i
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: vulnerable
Although giant armadillos can be damaging to crops while digging through soil in search of animal prey, they never directly consume plants.
Negative Impacts: crop pest
At one point, before their numbers dwindled, giant armadillos were key in controlling leafcutter ant populations, which could reach enormous sizes and destroy crops. These animals have also been hunted by natives for their meat.
Positive Impacts: food ; controls pest population
The most notable ecosystem role played by P. maximus is its control over the termite and ant populations in a small region. By keeping these huge populations in check, the ecosystem can maintain a state of equilibrium, making P. maximus somewhat of a keystone species. Also, due to its fossorial nature, this species aids in soil aeration.
Ecosystem Impact: soil aeration ; keystone species
Giant armadillos have a very specialized diet consisting of termites and certain ant species. These animals roam throughout their range in search of termite mounds in which to burrow. Once they have found a mount, they completely eradicate it. This species has also been documented eating carrion, worms, and other small vertebrates.
Animal Foods: reptiles; carrion ; insects; terrestrial worms
Primary Diet: carnivore (Insectivore )
Very little information is available on the mating habits of South American armadillos. No accounts of the mating system of P. maximus have been published as yet. Considering the habits of other armadillos, however, one may infer that two giant armadillos pair for each breeding season while sharing a burrow.
Mating System: monogamous
Very little is known about the reproductive behavior of giant armadillos. They typically give birth to a single offspring (occasionally two), which weigh up to 113 g at birth, and already possess tough skin. Weaning begins about 4 to 6 weeks after birth, and after weaning, the young become independent. Armadillos reach sexual maturity within 9 to 12 months of birth.
Breeding interval: The breeding interval of these animals is not known.
Breeding season: It is not known whether these animals breed seasonally.
Range number of offspring: 1 to 2.
Average number of offspring: 1.
Average gestation period: 4 months.
Range weaning age: 4 to 5 months.
Average weaning age: 6 months.
Range time to independence: 4 to 6 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 9 to 12 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 9 to 12 months.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization ; viviparous
Average birth mass: 62.15 g.
Average gestation period: 122 days.
Average number of offspring: 1.5.
Little is known about parental care in giant armadillos. Mothers stay with the young and nurse them for 4 to 6 weeks. Afterwards, the young stay with the mother until they reach independence at around 6 months of age. The role of the male in parental care has not been documented for P. maximus.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; female parental care ; pre-fertilization (Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)
The giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), colloquially tatu-canastra, tatou, ocarro or tatú carreta, is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the glyptodonts, were much larger). It lives in South America, ranging throughout as far south as northern Argentina.[3] This species is considered vulnerable to extinction.[1]
The giant armadillo prefers termites and some ants as prey, and often consumes the entire population of a termite mound. It also has been known to prey upon worms, larvae and larger creatures, such as spiders and snakes, and plants.[4] Some giant armadillos have been reported to have eaten bees by digging into beehives.[5]
At least one zoo park, in Villavicencio, Colombia – Los Ocarros – is dedicated to this animal.
The giant armadillo is the largest living species of armadillo, with 11 to 13 hinged bands protecting the body and a further three or four on the neck.[6] Its body is dark brown in color, with a lighter, yellowish band running along the sides, and a pale, yellow-white head. These armadillos have around 80 to 100 teeth, which is more than any other terrestrial mammal. The teeth are all similar in appearance, being reduced premolars and molars, grow constantly throughout life, and lack enamel.[7] They also possess extremely long front claws,[8] including a sickle-shaped third claw up to 22 cm (8.7 in) in length,[9] which are proportionately the largest of any living mammal.[7] The tail is covered in small rounded scales and does not have the heavy bony scutes that cover the upper body and top of the head. The animal is almost entirely hairless, with just a few beige colored hairs protruding between the scutes.[7]
Giant armadillos typically weigh around 18.7–32.5 kg (41–72 lb) when fully grown, however a 54 kg (119 lb) specimen has been weighed in the wild and captive specimens have been weighed up to 80 kg (180 lb).[10][11][12] The typical length of the species is 75–100 cm (30–39 in), with the tail adding another 50 cm (20 in).[6]
Giant armadillos are found throughout much of northern South America east of the Andes, except for eastern Brazil and Paraguay. In the south, they reach the northernmost provinces of Argentina, including Salta, Formosa, Chaco, and Santiago del Estero. There are no recognised geographic subspecies. They primarily inhabit open habitats, with cerrado grasslands covering about 25% of their range,[13] but they can also be found in lowland forests.[7]
Giant armadillos are solitary and nocturnal, spending the day in burrows.[6] They also burrow to escape predators, being unable to completely roll into a protective ball.[14] Compared with those of other armadillos, their burrows are unusually large, with entrances averaging 43 cm (17 in) wide, and typically opening to the west.[15]
Giant armadillos use their large front claws to dig for prey and rip open termite mounds. The diet is mainly composed of termites, although ants, worms, spiders and other invertebrates are also eaten.[6] Little is currently known about this species' reproductive biology, and no juveniles have ever been discovered in the field.[16] The average sleep time of a captive giant armadillo is said to be 18.1 hours.[17]
Armadillos have not been extensively studied in the wild; therefore, little is known about their natural ecology and behavior. In the only long-term study on the species, that started in 2003 in the Peruvian Amazon, dozens of other species of mammals, reptiles and birds were found using the giant armadillos' burrows on the same day, including the rare short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis). Because of this, the species is considered a habitat engineer, and the local extinction of Priodontes may have cascading effects in the mammalian community by impoverishing fossorial habitat.[18] Additionally, the giant armadillo was once key to controlling leaf cutter populations which could destroy crops, but they can also damage crops themselves when digging through soil.[19]
Female giant armadillos have two teats and have a gestational period of about five months. Evidence points to only giving birth once every three years.[20] Little is known with certainty about their life history, although it is thought that the young are weaned by about seven to eight months of age, and that the mother periodically seals up the entrance to burrows containing younger offspring, presumably to protect them from predators. Although they have never bred in captivity, a wild-born giant armadillo at San Antonio Zoo was estimated to have been around sixteen years old when it died.[7]
Hunted throughout its range, a single giant armadillo supplies a great deal of meat, and is the primary source of protein for some indigenous peoples. In addition, live giant armadillos are frequently captured for trade on the black market, and invariably die during transportation or in captivity.[21] Despite this species' wide range, it is locally rare. This is further exacerbated by habitat loss resulting from deforestation.[1][21] Current estimates indicate the giant armadillo may have undergone a worrying population decline of 30 to 50 percent over the past three decades. Without intervention, this trend is likely to continue.[21]
The giant armadillo was classified as vulnerable on the World Conservation Union's Red List in 2002, and is listed under Appendix I (threatened with extinction) of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.
The giant armadillo is protected by law in Colombia, Guyana, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname and Peru,[22][23] and commercial international trade is banned by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).[21] However, hunting for food and sale in the black market continues to occur throughout its entire range.[21] Some populations occur in protected reserves, including the Parque das Emas in Brazil,[24] and the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, a massive 1.6-million-hectare site of pristine rainforest managed by Conservation International.[25] Such protection helps to some degree to mitigate the threat of habitat loss, but targeted conservation action is required to prevent the further decline of this species.
This article incorporates text from the ARKive fact-file "Giant armadillo" under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GFDL.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) The giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), colloquially tatu-canastra, tatou, ocarro or tatú carreta, is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the glyptodonts, were much larger). It lives in South America, ranging throughout as far south as northern Argentina. This species is considered vulnerable to extinction.
The giant armadillo prefers termites and some ants as prey, and often consumes the entire population of a termite mound. It also has been known to prey upon worms, larvae and larger creatures, such as spiders and snakes, and plants. Some giant armadillos have been reported to have eaten bees by digging into beehives.
At least one zoo park, in Villavicencio, Colombia – Los Ocarros – is dedicated to this animal.
