Description
Armadillos are one of the oldest groups of mammals and have a quirky appearance, with a tough shell composed of bony plates in the dermis covered by horny scales. The giant armadillo is the largest living species of this group, and has 11 to 13 hinged bands protecting the body, and a further three or four on the neck. Its body is dark brown in colour, 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 mammal. They also possess extremely long front claws, including a sickle-shaped third claw. The giant armadillos typically weigh around 28–32 kg (62–71 lb) when fully grown, however a 54 kg (120 lb) specimen has been weighed in the wild and captive specimens have been weighed up to 80 kg (180 lb). The typical length of the species from 75–100 cm (30–39 in), with the tail adding another 50 cm (20 in).
Read more about this topic: Giant Armadillo
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“Whose are the truly labored sentences? From the weak and flimsy periods of the politician and literary man, we are glad to turn even to the description of work, the simple record of the month’s labor in the farmer’s almanac, to restore our tone and spirits.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“As they are not seen on their way down the streams, it is thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die, clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a tragic feature in the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be remembered with Shakespeare’s description of the sea-floor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)