Opportunistic Armadillos –

Interesting creatures, but not a favorite garden visitor

Armadillos are wary and quick to run (Photo by Anita Westervelt)

Published July 25, 2026, in the McAllen Monitor

Story and photos by Anita Westervelt

At sunrise, if you are really quiet, and step softly and slowly, you can get close enough to take a phone camera photo of an armadillo while it is intently snuffling for food.

Once it senses you, the game is up; it will scarper with a skip-hop-trot locomotion that is swifter than it looks like it should be. Armadillos have poor eyesight but keen sense of smell and excellent hearing, which is how a human might get relatively close, if the wind is in favor.

For better photos the other morning, I grabbed my camera and long lens just after sunrise and quietly navigated our driveway. To my surprise, I happened upon two armadillos in the neighbor’s yard – which won’t well please them to find that out.

A pair of armadillos at sunrise (Photo by Anita Westervelt)

The armadillos split up. I propped the camera on a utility box that graces our curb appeal and got a few well focused, low light shots of the nearest one.

Armadillos made the news in recent years, perhaps not the nightly news, but science news. Nine-banded armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus, long thought to be the only armadillo species in the United States, now has a new classification and geographic parameters. Scientists researching DNA discovered that the nine-banded armadillo is actually four distinct species, one of which, a South American species, is new to science.

The Mexican long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus mexicanus, formerly treated as a subspecies, is the species now known to be found in the United States. It is native to Mexico, the United States and Central America.

Armadillos are agile despite their armor. (Photo by Anita Westervelt)

The nine-banded armadillo species is still a recognized species, but it is strictly restricted to South America.

The Mexican long-nosed armadillo is medium-sized, weighs between five and 15 pounds and features seven to 11 (usually nine) movable armored bands. In the field, its size, coloring, and shell structures are virtually indistinguishable from the nine-banded. The differences are primarily genetic and skeletal, according to an online sci.news/biology staff article dated June 27, 2024.

Mexican long-nose armadillos are opportunistic insectivores. Their keen sense of smell helps them detect grubs, beetles, snails, termites, worms, ants and fire ants as deep as six inches in the ground. To help them reach that prey, they have four long, sharp claws on their front feet which are extremely effective for quick, deep digging. Their tongue is long, rough and sticky, and can rapidly capture prey. They immediately swallow their food whole.

Powerful front claws for digging. (Photo by Anita Westervelt)

Those successful foraging habits are the bane of owners of attractive, well-kept residential lawns. On the one hand, armadillos eat harmful bugs that can damage a pristine lawn; they revisit those holes to check for trapped insects – not to repair the damage the pits have left in the turf. That annoying activity makes them a favorite of homeowners to trap and relocate. But be advised.

In Texas, transporting and relocating armadillos, because they can carry diseases, require prior authorization from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department or local Texas AgriLife Extension Office. Be safe, find a Texas Game Warden by county at: https://tpwd.texas.gov/warden/.

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