Armadillo

The things you learn when you do a little background research on these  challenge topics! This week Jennifer’s One Word Challenge is Armadillos!

I always thought Armadillos were hatched from eggs, possibly some sort of reptile. With this in my head, the first pictures that came to mind were these wonderful lanterns from the annual Chinese Lantern festival which is held in Auckland NZ. This particaular year was the the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac.

On further investigation, I found out I was mistaken and armadillos are in fact mammals.

The Armadillo Fact File is full of interesting facts such as the Nine Banded Armadillo always gives birth to 4 identical young which form from the same egg. It is the only mammal known to do this.

Did you know there is a type of Armadillo called the Screaming Hairy Armadillo and one called the Pink Fairy Armadillo?

The word Armadillo originated from the Spanish word armado which means armed and translates roughly to the “little armed one”. The Armadillo has a distinctive set of leathery plates that act as armour.

While I have never seen a real live armadillo, it is now  on my list of things to see and a trip to South America is called for in the future!

I was however fortunate enough to come up close to this “armed one” I was in Nepal in the Chitwan Natioanl Park. My group was taking a stroll around the local village with the Ranger when an old lady stopped for a chat with the ranger and pointed towards the river. He set off at pace and we all follwed. We rounded the corner and came face to arse with this massive Rhino butt! I was gobsmacked, as in my absolute ignorance, I didn’t even know there were Rhino in Nepal! The National Park wasn’t actually on my list, it was a stopover on the way to go trekking in the Himilayas. Needless to say it was a literal massive surprise and quite the highlight of my time in the park!

Rhino

Yoroshiku Onegai shimasu

Leanne