Undertaking the world's first long-term study of giant armadillos has allowed intrepid biologist, Arnaud Desbiez, to uncovered a wealth of new information about these creatures. Not only has Desbiez documented giant armadillo reproduction for the first time, but has also discovered that these gentle giants create vital habitats for a variety of other species.
"Giant armadillos provide a very valuable ecosystem service to the rest of the ecological community: a shelter from predators and temperature extremes as well as new feeding resources," Desbiez with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and head of The Pantanal Giant Armadillo Project told Mongabay.com.
The shelter he's referring to is the giant armadillo's deep burrows, which the busy beasts dig every other day on average. Using claws that any velocirpator would envy-including one over 6 inches long-giant armadillos dig out burrows over 16 feet deep. The armadillos use these burrows for sleeping, resting, and even foraging, since they primarily feed on termites and other invertebrates.
But the burrows have other users too. Employing remote camera traps at 70 different burrows in the Brazilian Pantanal, Desbiez and his team recorded over two dozen species crashing giant armadillo homes for different purposes, from keeping cool to hunting. This makes the giant armadillo an "ecosystem engineer," i.e. a key species that drastically alters or re-creates its environment, impacting many other species. Well-known ecosystem engineers include beavers, elephants, and, of course, ourselves: humans are the ultimate ecosystem engineer.
Story and photo via ENN.com