Southern long-nosed armadillos have keen senses of smell and hearing. They do not see well. Southern long-nosed armadillos have glands on their eyelids, bottoms of the feet, ears, and anal area. These glands emit a yellow colored liquid that is used to identify individuals and find a mate. They also rub their glands on things to mark their home range. Southern long-nosed armadillos sniff the anal area of other armadillos to identify individuals.
Communication Channels: tactile ; chemical
Other Communication Modes: scent marks
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Southern long-nosed armadillos are listed as near threatened. They don't thrive in zoos because they need large amounts of space. Threats to their habitat include deforestation and agriculture.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: near threatened
There are no known adverse effects of Dasypus hybridus on humans.
The armor of Dasypus hybridus is sold in some places for use as baskets. They have also been hunted for meat and some were used by South American Indians to build roofs and tombs. Armadillos are used in medical research. They are used especially for studying leprosy because they can contract it. Other medical research that uses armadillos include research on birth defects, multiple births, organ transplants, trichinosis, and typhus.
Positive Impacts: food ; body parts are source of valuable material; ecotourism ; research and education
Southern long-nosed armadillos help to control insect populations.
Southern long-nosed armadillos are opportunistic foragers that eat mainly invertebrates. They feed on ants, beetles, crickets, termites, spiders, other invertebrates, small vertebrates, vegetation (including some fruits), and carrion. They forage noisily at night. Southern long-nosed armadillos have long tongues that they use for catching prey. They usually forage with their nose to the ground, going through leaf litter. They may also use their claws to open up a log and then use their tongues to get at what is inside.
Animal Foods: mammals; amphibians; reptiles; carrion ; insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods
Plant Foods: leaves; fruit
Primary Diet: carnivore (Insectivore , Scavenger )
The home range of Dasypus hybridus, the southern long-nosed armadillo, extends from southern Brazil to parts of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
Southern long-nosed armadillos are terrestrial and fossorial. They live mainly in grasslands and savannas. They make burrows in the ground by digging with their clawed feet. They prefer areas with dense vegetation and limestone outcrops, from 0 to 3000 m elevation. Burrows can be up to 7.5 meters long, are usually 0.5 to 3.5 meters deep and run parallel to the ground. They usually have a nest of leaves and grass in the burrow. Individuals may have between 1 and 20 burrows in use, occupying the main one from 1 to 29 days at a time.
Range elevation: 0 to 3000 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland
Other Habitat Features: agricultural
Young southern long-nosed armadillos are twice as likely to die as adults because their bony plates are not fully developed. The specific lifespan of D. hybridus is not known, but other species of armadillo have been reported to live anywhere from 9 to 40 years.
Southern long-nosed armadillos have 6 to 7 brownish armored bands along their backs and sparse, bristly hair on their undersides. Armor bands are ossified skin and each band is connected to the others by creases of skin, allowing for range of motion.
Southern long-nosed armadillos are named for their long snouts. They have short legs with four, clawed toes on the front legs and five on the hind legs. Southern long-nosed armadillos have between 6 and 8 peg-like teeth per jaw quadrant. Their tails are also armored, with rings with rings of ossified skin. The southern long-nosed armadillo weighs around four and a half pounds and is about 11 to 12.5 inches long, with a tail around half that size.
Range mass: 1 to 10 kg.
Range length: 240 to 573 mm.
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Specific predators of southern long-nosed armadillos are not reported. In other armadillo species, predators of young include bobcats, mountain lions, large raptors, and dogs. Adult armadillos are hunted by jaguars, alligators, and bears. They are protected against some predation by their nocturnal habits, burrowing lifestyle, and armored bodies. They are also cryptically colored.
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
Southern long-nosed armadillos use smell to determine if an individual is receptive to mating. There is no obvious sexual dimorphism between males and females. Males have long penises. It is thought that this is because of all the armor it has to get around in order to mate.
The gestation period southern long-nosed armadillos is prolonged by delayed implantation. Females give birth once a year, becoming pregnant in June and delivering about 120 days later, usually some time in October. Dasypus hybridus has between 4 and 12 young in each litter. This is a distinctive aspect of southern long-nosed armadillos; other species do not have as many young per litter. Offspring are genetically identical because they develop from the same egg. Newborns are pinkish in color at birth but their skin quickly becomes armored and turns to the adult colors of browns or whites.
Breeding interval: Southern long-nosed armadillos breed once a year.
Breeding season: Breeding occurs in June.
Range number of offspring: 4 to 12.
Average gestation period: 120 days.
Range weaning age: 4 to 5 months.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 1 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; viviparous ; delayed implantation
Female southern long-nosed armadillos have mammae on the chest and sometimes on the abdomen. Not much is known about the relationship between the mother and her offspring but, like other mammals, females invest significantly in gestation and lactation. Nine banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) are weaned at 4 to 5 months and become mature sexually around 1 year.
Parental Investment: pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)
The southern long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus hybridus) is a species of armadillo native to South America.
Among the smallest of the long-nosed armadillos, individuals of the southern species measure about 30 cm (12 in) in head-body length, with a tail about 17 cm (6.7 in) long. With no discernible sexual dimorphism, both males and females weigh about 2 kg (4.4 lb). The upper body, tail, and upper surface of the head are covered by a dark grey carapace of bony scales and have very little hair. The central part of the carapace is divided into a number of movable bands; there are usually seven such bands, but many individuals have just six, while a few have eight. The scales on the main shields, over the shoulders and hips, are hexagonal and about 5 mm (0.20 in) across, while those on the bands are rectangular and marked with a V-shaped groove that divides them into three triangular sections. The scales on the head are variable in shape.[2]
The tail has a number of distinct rings for about two-thirds of its length, and a slender tip. They have a narrow snout and long ears, measuring about a quarter to a third of the length of the head. There are four toes on the front feet and five on the hind feet; all have powerful curved claws. The underside of the animal has sparse dark-brown hair, and skin that is wrinkled on the abdomen, but smoother on the inside of the legs.[2]
The southern long-nosed armadillo inhabits southern Brazil, in the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina, southern Paraguay, north-eastern Argentina, and almost the whole of Uruguay. There are no recognised subspecies.[1] Within this region, they live in grasslands up to 2,300 m (7,500 ft) in elevation, preferring relatively undisturbed habitats and avoiding agricultural cropland,[3] although they may be found on cattle ranches.[4]
About 60% of the species' diet consists of ants and termites, although they also eat other small invertebrates, the occasional small mouse, and some vegetables and scraps.[2][5] They are diurnal and active throughout the year, being solitary outside of the breeding season.[2]
They spend the night in burrows, which consist of a single passage with an average length of 120 cm (47 in) and depth of 43 cm (17 in), although individual burrows vary greatly. They are typically built on flat or gently sloping terrain and angled so that the entrance faces away from the prevailing winds. The entrance is usually concealed beneath bushes or rocks, and may be lined with dried plant matter, which is also often found deeper within the burrow, where it forms a nest.[6]
Breeding begins in March, with the young being born from October to early December. From six to ten young are born in each litter, and are relatively precocial at birth, with their eyes already open and the bony scutes of their carapace already partially developed.[7] Newborn young weigh about 48 g (1.7 oz), and are weaned at about two months.[2]
The southern long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus hybridus) is a species of armadillo native to South America.
