- Forest Gump's momma always said,
"Life is like a box of chocolates,
you never know what you're gonna get."
But when it comes to a bowl full of worms,
I'll tell you exactly what you're gonna get.
One...
Adorable...
Little armadillo.
Get ready to meet Daisy.
(silly music)
(tribal music)
Oh, super strong.
Oh, and those claws are sharp.
There you go, oh, there's the bowl of worms!
All you have to do is plug the armadillo
into the bowl of worms, and as you can see,
it is a feeding frenzy.
Now, they don't have any sharp teeth up front.
Believe it or not,
they have a tooth structure that's really similar
to that of a three-toed sloth.
These little nub teeth in the back of their mouths.
But they're excellent at burrowing,
and that is where they search for their food.
Now, they are opportunistic
and as you can see right here,
that's quite the opportunity.
A bowl full of giant, oh!
Just let me borrow one for a second here.
I'm not going to eat it, don't you worry.
Look at that night-crawler.
Pure protein for this armadillo.
Now, she's gonna absolutely mow through this bowl of worms.
Can I take some here?
Let's see if we can do this.
What if I put one in my mouth and we do like
the Lady and the Tramp?
- [Mark] Oh really?
- Yeah, well, I'll try, here.
- [Mark] (groans)
- Oh gosh, that's slimy.
Here ya go.
(spitting noises)
Uck!
- [Mark] It pooped in your mouth.
- Aw! It did! Is it all over my mouth?
- [Mark] Yes.
- (spits) Ugh, I got worm poo in my mouth.
Alright, let's continue on with the scene.
Daisy, come here for a second.
- [Mark] Hey, can you wipe your face off? (laughs)
- Ugh, pfft. Daisy, how do you do this?
- [Mark] It's pretty bad.
- Ugh. (spitting)
Didn't see that coming.
Okay, well.
Nine-banded armadillo,
let's think about that name for a second because,
my friend Archie, you may remember Archie from the
episode we did with Wildman Phil, and Archie,
he calls these creatures rhino-pigs,
and I can see that.
This animal's body is covered in a hard
series of armored plates, you see this?
All on the outside,
they have these keratin-like scales that are
then wound together in these bands.
And they say nine-banded armadillo,
but they can have anywhere from eight to 11,
let's count Daisy's bands.
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, oh, wow.
About a perfect nine, but as they get bigger
and their bodies elongate, those bands will expand.
Now, unlike some armadillo species,
they cannot curl completely into a ball.
Daisy, can I pick you up?
You guys wanna see what the
underside of an armadillo looks like?
Let's see.
Oh! Those claws are sharp.
Here we go, buddy.
Oh, careful.
(silly music building up)
Oh, man!
Holding the armadillo,
I don't think is going to be possible.
Unless I'm gonna get shredded like
the claws of a velociraptor.
And one thing you may not realize about armadillos is
that their claws are incredibly sharp.
They are...
Unbelievable burrowers and actually,
they can be considered a keystone species in many areas
because the burrows that they dig
are oftentimes used by other animals as homes.
However, one problem that they do serve in areas
where there are desert tortoises and gopher tortoises,
is they'll actually distract those burrows
and they can drive the tortoises out of their homes.
So, it's kind of the give or take when it comes to
whether or not they're helping the environment,
or hurting the environment.
Obviously, people see them getting into their gardens,
they come in, root around, dig up all the plants.
But what they're really looking for are the worms.
And as you can see,
Daisy had made quick work of that bowl of worms.
Look at that tail.
The tail is also armored.
And the entire body structure of this animal
is just so rigid.
And they are unbelievably strong, let me see, come here.
I'm gonna hold onto you.
Ah!
Oh!
There she goes.
(silly music)
(sighs) Wow, handling an armadillo is like,
look at the scratches on the underside of my hand there.
Those claws are razor-sharp.
Oh Daisy!
Now, she's about a year and a half old,
and believe it or not, they grow really quickly.
And she will get bigger than this,
they can weigh as much as 20 pounds.
And I would say she's...
What, maybe about five pounds in weight.
- [Mark] Oh, this is not full-grown.
- No, this is not full-grown.
She'll get significantly bigger than this.
Oh! Breathing in a lot of that dust.
(digging noises)
And you see all these, ugh!
(laughing)
- [Mark] You alright?
- Dirt in the face, man,
almost caught a whole eyeball full of dirt.
Look at how she just...
Look at how quick she is digging.
Now, what I was trying to show you there
before I got a face full of dirt was,
all these little bumps,
on the side of her are little osteoderms,
just like the skin of a gila monster.
Whew, look at that!
Like a bucking bronco there.
Look at that.
Whew! I'm in a dust storm.
In a dust storm.
Do you see how they use
the elongation of their body to dig
a pile of dirt underneath her back legs
and then she thrusts out?
Watch some more, here it comes again, look.
(digging noises)
Covered in dirt right now.
(spits) Alright, Daisy,
we're gonna bring you back up here on the bench, okay?
She's not gonna like this, ready?
(silly music)
Ahh!
Ooh!
Just crush my hand up against the tree, did you see that?
Ugh!
Ooh!
Okay.
Come on back.
Whew!
That's a dirt party right there.
Hi plody, yeah, that's a sweet armadillo.
- [Mark] She has kind of a beard.
- She does, and all that fur up front there
helps keep her face protected.
You'll notice that elongated snout is used for
sniffing around in the dirt as they're burrowing.
Here's a really cool fact that you may not know,
armadillos can hold their breath
for an incredibly long time for a mammal,
up to five minutes.
And they've actually been seen,
walking on the basins of rivers,
crawling from one spot to the next.
Let's turn you this way like this.
Here we go, okay.
I'd love to show you guys the belly,
can we see your belly real quick?
Ow, ooh! Those claws are sharp, ooh!
Man, I am getting annihilated here.
Let's see your belly, belly, belly, belly, belly.
Look at that underside, ahh!
Can we show everybody your belly?
Look at the underside of that creature.
It might as well be leather.
Now, here's kind of another interesting fact.
Believe it or not, you can eat an armadillo.
And don't worry Daisy, nobody's gonna eat you.
Nobody's gonna eat you.
But during the Great Depression,
people in Texas actually used to eat these animals
and that's how they became, not only the state animal,
but have the famous name, Hoover Hog.
How 'bout that? Mark, would you ever eat an armadillo?
- [Mark] No way, way too cute.
- Yeah, way too cute.
Okay, let's put you like this.
There we go Daisy,
thanks for letting us see your underside,
you're so cute.
- [Mark] Now talk to me about this skin, or the armor,
it looks like it's pliable a little bit?
- It is, look at this, see how I can just kinda
move those bands individually?
And unlike other armadillo species,
they cannot curl entirely into a ball.
But if they feel threat from a predator
like a coyote or even a jaguar cause their range extends
all the way down into South America,
and that's actually where they are most prevalent,
they can curl themselves tight enough where a predator
can't actually get to those softer undersides.
Look at those ears,
the ears look just like the skin of a reptile,
but as we know, the armadillo is a mammal
and they're most closely related to anteaters and sloths,
believe it or not.
Now, you'll notice that this armadillo has very small eyes.
And they actually have poor eyesight,
but they have an excellent sense of smell
and an excellent sense of hearing.
Your belly is just like leather, you know that?
And actually look at all this fur on the underside,
you see how soft armadillos are?
Whoa, where you goin'?
Come over here.
Alright, well, it's pretty hard to just contain
an armadillo that wants to explore.
So, I think Daisy's ready to get down on the ground--
- [Mark] She's peeing on you.
(scary music)
- Ooh!
- [Mark] (laughing)
- Ugh!
That is not my pee.
- [Mark] Are you sure?
- Yeah, I just got peed on by an armadillo.
Ugh!
- [Mark] Oh man.
I'm loving this armadillo. - Oh man.
I'm getting clawed up, I'm getting peed on.
It ain't easy working with an armadillo,
I'll tell you guys that much.
Look at that, right back in that same exact hole.
You know, if you want somebody to let go of you
so that you can go dig a hole underneath the tree,
one way to do it,
is definitely to pee on them.
- [Mark] Okay, I think the armadillo wants to go
adventure, why don't we follow her around,
we'll grab our GoPros.
- Yeah, I think at this juncture,
the best thing to do is to just go
where the armadillo wants to go.
So, I'm gonna grab my GoPro, there we go.
And let's see if we can get into the world
of a nine-banded armadillo.
Ha-ha, I smell like urine.
(silly music)
- [Mark] Here's a good chance,
I'm gonna feel what this is like.
- [Coyote] Yeah, go ahead, touch the back there.
- [Mark] Oh wow.
- [Coyote] Right?
- [Mark] It's like really tough,
but it is a little pliable.
- [Coyote] I mean you can see why
Archie calls it a rhino-pig.
It's like rhino skin with a pig nose.
- [Mark] Yeah, but the tail.
- [Coyote] The tail, yeah, completely armor-plated.
- [Mark] Oh wow, that tail is tougher.
- [Coyote] Look at that, and yeah, you can even see
where the tail connects to the body, whoa!
That's all like baseball mitt leather right there.
Crazy cool.
- [Mark] I think, do we want this armadillo
to dig under this tree guys?
- Uh, well, we don't want her to get all the way underneath
there and you can see in just a matter of minutes,
she has dug almost her entire body underneath
the root structure of this tree.
Oh, there she is.
- [Mark] Hi Daisy.
- Hi Daisy, say hi to Uncle Mark.
- [Mark] Nope, alright, done digging, let's see what else
we can find. - Alright, now she's
exploring for other possibilities.
Daisy was actually rescued as a baby in Texas.
And our good friend, Wildman Phil,
has been taking care of her ever since.
And we've shown you guys so many
creepy looking creatures as of late.
We said to ourselves, you know what?
We need another cute animal on the Brave Wilderness channel.
But how cool is this?
Spending our afternoon hanging out
with a nine-banded armadillo.
I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave...
Stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
Alright, ready?
Here she comes Mark.
- [Mark] Ahh!
- Hey coyote pack,
I've got some great news.
We are doing two live shows in Australia.
One in Melbourne,
and one in Sydney.
The tickets are on sale now.
And for everyone in the United States,
get excited,
because a West Coast tour
is coming in early 2018.
And don't forget, subscribe,
so you can join me and the crew
on our next big adventure.
(cheering)
I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave.
- [Crowd] Stay wild!
- [Coyote] We'll see you on the next adventure.
(animal noises)