How high can a nine-banded armadillo jump?

    Three to four feet into the air.

Of the twenty species of armadillo that exist throughout the Americas, the nine-banded armadillo (dasypus novemcinctus) is the only one found in the United States. When startled, the nine-banded armadillo can jump straight upward about three to four feet into the air. This reflex may help scare off predators in the wild. Unfortunately, many armadillos are killed when they jump into the underside of moving vehicles.

Amazing Armadillo Facts...

1. inflate their stomachs and intestines with air and float across the water, or,
2. sink down and use their sharp claws to walk across the bottom.

They can hold their breath for six minutes or more!

The nine-banded armadillo always gives birth to same gender quadruplets from a single egg.

The Latin name for the nine-banded armadillo is Dasypus novemcinctus. The word Dasypus is derived from the Latin word for rabbit. Novem means nine and cinctus means band. Literally, it translates to "nine-banded rabbit." It is said that armadillos without their shells resemble rabbits.

Related Web Sites

The American Society of Mammalogists species account of the Dasypus novemcinctus. Animal Diversity Website: Dasypus novemcinctus (nine-banded armadillo) - "Animal Diversity Web is an online database of animal natural history, distribution, classification, and conservation biology at the University of Michigan.” Information about the nine-banded armadillo is presented. Arkive - The Arkive is a "record of life on Earth." The page for the nine-banded armadillo provides a short description along with videos and images. Armadillos - by Suzanne J. Wilson. This article appeared in the Missouri Conservationist March 1997 issue. It provides an introductory discussion of the armadillo. The Biogeography of the Nine-Banded Armadillo - San Francisco State University's Department of Geography student Raquel Avila provides an introduction on the topic of armadillos, complete with photos, a map, bibliography, and related Web links.

Further Reading

Grzimek, Bernhard. Grzimek's animal life encyclopedia. New York, Van Nostrnad Reinhold Co., 1972. V. 11, p. 156. Smith, Larry Lane. The amazing armadillo: geography of a folk critter. Austin, University of Texas Press, 1984. 134 p.

For more print resources...
Search on "armadillo" or "nine-banded armadillo" in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Armadillo. Photo by Runyon, Robert, 1881-1968. From Library of Congress, American Memory: The South Texas Border: The Robert Runyon Photograph Collection.

Top of Page