The armadillos are stirring.
As the days grow warmer, they begin emerging squinty-eyed from their burrows.
Armadillos are the only North American mammals armored with heavy, bony plates.
When threatened, they often roll into a ball to protect themselves, exposing only their hard outer shell.
Despite their armored plating, armadillos are cautious creatures, and they usually do quite a bit of curious sniffing before exiting the safety of their tunnels.
Their eyes are small and adapted to protection while digging, as the armadillo usually has its head buried in the ground.
Since they do not have exceptional eyesight, armadillos instead rely on a keen sense of smell.
When the Spanish conquistadors first encountered this strange creature, they named it “little man in armor.”
In the early 1900’s, armadillos in the United States were found almost exclusively in the semi-arid region of South Texas.
Over the decades, they have expanded their range throughout much of the Southeast.
They now occur in Oklahoma, Kansas and southeastward to Georgia and most of Florida.
During the spring and early summer, armadillos are active throughout the day rooting for insects, but when temperatures rise, they will spend the heat of the day stretched out in their cool burrows and become active mainly at night.
Armadillos mate in summer and give birth in the spring.
They normally have four identical quadruplets, and the little ones usually stick within sniffing distance of one another as they begin to forage on their own.
It’s a great time for armadillo watching in South Texas.
Keep an eye out for those quadruplets, as they should be starting to roam any day now.