posted October 30, 2013 11:15 AM            

Growing up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) long from snout to tail, these armadillos are always on the move, and generally only stay in their 16-foot-deep (5 m) holes for two nights before excavating new ones. New research shows that these burrows are surprisingly important for other animal communities in the area and provide shelter for at least 25 other species, from tortoises to lesser anteaters.

"Giant armadillos are like 'ecosystem engineers,' providing homes for many other animals," said Arnaud Desbiez, a conservation officer with The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland who is based in southwestern Brazil's Pantanal, the world's largest freshwater wetland, where the study was conducted.

'Like wine cellars'

In the study, published in the September issue of the journal Biotropica, Desbiez and colleague Danilo Kluyber set up camera traps in front of 70 giant armadillo burrows, which took photos of animals that came by to use the holes. The burrows provide a hiding place and home for many of these animals and shelter from the heat and cold, staying a relatively constant temperature, Desbiez told LiveScience. "Think of them like wine cellars," he said.

The mound of unearthed soil also attracted a variety of visitors, from pumas to tapirs (large piglike mammals), which use it as a resting spot and a place to forage — the freshly disturbed soil may attract insects and amphibians, Desbiez said. Peccaries, a type of wild pig, also visit these mounds to roll about and wallow, he added.

posted November 13, 2013 06:39 AM            

The evening sun was sinkin' down, a chill north wind a-blows
The new plowed ground was coolin' fast, the river rolls and flows
Beneath the two lane concrete river bridge between my place
And town on that hot bed farm to market road they call 1291

I'm sayin' son you'll see me searchin'; sizzlin' down that broad highway
Dollar signs in both my eyes, I'm seekin' out my prey
I'm prayin', "Jesus, will you send me just another three or four?"
They pay two-fifty down in Hallettsville, 3 dollars, maybe more

And more than likely they'll be out tonight a-wanderin' from the farms
Waddlin' down 1291 to keep their bodies warm
I'm talking walkin' belts and neckties and boots for rodeo
They don't run too fast, don't waste much gas, I'm makin' lots o'dough

The armadillo, the armadillo
The armadillo

Never sees me when I hit him with my brights
His life don't pass before his eyes, he's blinded by my lights
And so I hit him with my bumper doin' sixty, sixty-five
They take 'em frozen down in Hallettsville, they don't take 'em alive

The jackal cried, the jackal cried
The jackal cried

Look there's two of them a-walkin' down the line
I can't believe my luck tonight this here makes twenty-nine
And so he rolled the first one runnin', the second was too fast
His breaks and laughter squealin' as he stomped down on the gas

Good God, his car was sideways flyin'
When the bridge wall met his door
The impact shook the river bed
His foot went through the floor

Forevermore, forevermore
Forevermore

Was his last moment from the bridge wall to the stream
From the speckled blood around his smile a-spewin' gasoline
And then he screamed his raspy epitaph before he turned to flame
They pay two-fifty down in Hallettsville, I ain't the one to blame

Ain't it a shame, the jackal cried?
The armadillo, the armadillo
The armadillo, the armadillo
The armadillo

Songwriters
Robert Earl Keen