My favorite part about 1931 Dracula is that there are armadillos running around Dracula’s castle.
Look at this it’s like they couldn’t find any rats so they just were like “eh close enough no one will notice”. But I noticed. I noticed.
“WE NAILED IT BOYS”
Apparently in the 20s and 30s, armadillos weren’t very commonly known, so moviemakers would use them wherever they needed some creepy, ‘demonic’ animal running around. So there were a lot of armadillos in early filmmaking, and it was often people’s only source of reference for armadillos.
Fast forward twenty years to when the father of the biology professor who told me this is driving out from the east coast to see his son in California. Crossing the southwest at night.
An armadillo runs across the road.
He comes to a screeching halt and the Thing Of Evil, which he never knew was actually a real animal, trots the rest of the way across the road and vanishes into the desert.
A young 9 banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) I captured at work today. Released unharmed after brief examination. Since these guys are one of my favorite native mammals I will celebrate by posting Fun Armadillo Facts™ .
1. Nine-banded armadillos were unheard of in the United States until the late 19th century, when they crossed the Rio-Grande naturally and were introduced to Florida by humans. Their range has expanded rapidly and they now occupy much of the southern US, and are still spreading.
2. Every nine-banded armadillo you see, at one point in its life, had three identical siblings. The species almost invariably produces quadruplets!
3. They are one of the only animals other than humans to be susceptible to leprosy. With a low core temperature and a long lifespan they are perfect for the bacteria to propagate, and actually suffer it systemically rather than on mainly peripheral tissues the way humans do. You are unlikely to get leprosy from the average armadillo, however.
4. Unlike the smaller three-banded armadillo, the nine-banded cannot roll into a ball. Its methods of escape involve either a surprising rapid run, attempting to dig down to where only its carapace is exposed, or, and this is why so many are hit by cars, leaping 3+ vertical feet in order to startle predators. In the words of zefrank, this is precisely the wrong defense to survive a charging honda, regrettably.
5. They can be litter box trained much like a cat!
6.They once had gigantic prehistoric relatives includingDoedicurusandGlyptotherium. Large herbivores reaching the size of small cars. I wish so badly that they remained alive so I could ride one.
