I was never expecting to see something like this giant armadillo carapace (Priodontes maximus) on my January 2020 trip to the Peruvian rainforest!

When visiting the headquarters of the Rio Mayo Reserve in the eastern Andes of Peru where it drops down to Amazonian tropical forest, we were permitted to handle the carapace of a giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus). I was not even aware that a species this large even existed in the armadillo family, so I was rather impressed and surprised. This one was probably fairly average in size (normal weight of around 55-60 lbs / 25-27 kg), but captive individuals have reached 180 lbs (82 kg). The native range is most of northern and central South America, east of the Andes including the Amazon Basin, but not in eastern Brazil.

A selection of skulls of reserve animals, including a tapir on the far left and various rodents and primates to the right.

Giant armadillos feed mostly upon termites in the wild, although they do also eat ants, other invertebrates, and sometimes certain types of fallen fruit. They have a very large central third claw upon their forelimbs which can measure 8 inches/20 cm in length and is used to rip open termite mounds and dig for subterranean insect nests. They also are prodigious diggers of burrows, having been observed to dig several large holes every hour at times for feeding and/or resting purposes. Studies have shown that these temporarily-used or recently-abandoned burrows are utilized by at least 20 different animal species ranging from rodents to reptiles and birds. This makes giant armadillos “ecosystem engineers” in the same vein as better-known creatures such as beavers or prairie dogs, whose lifestyle activities also alter habitat to the benefit of numerous other associated species in their respective biomes. As such giant armadillos are a keystone animal to have in neotropical forest and savanna habitats.

The Peruvian ranger telling us about various species of plants and animals in the Rio Mayo Watershed Reserve, created to protect the tropical forest that provides reliable and clean water to a quarter million people in the cities below the reserve.

Sadly, despite their ecological importance giant armadillos are becoming rare over much of their habitat, even when considering the large geographic range they occupy. As fairly large animals they are often hunted for meat by local Amazonian tribes and poor rural farmers. Their secretive, shy, and cryptic lifestyle makes them hard to study in the field. Relatively little is known about their wild biology, reproductive rates, and social behavior, all of which would need to be better understood in order to ensure their future survival.

A guidebook created to help rangers and reserve staff identify Peruvian orchids in demand for the illegal plant trade. Plant poaching is a problem here too, just as it is elsewhere.

The IUCN Red Data List classifies giant armadillos as vulnerable to extinction if nothing is done to reverse their downward population trend. In-situ habitat preservation and conserving wild populations of these creatures is critical to their survival since they are very hard to keep alive in captivity due to their specialized diets, and they have never been successfully bred in zoos or otherwise. I hope that we won’t make yet another species extinct before most of us even have a chance to learn about them. After all, even I wasn’t really aware of their existence until last month, and I am more biologically literate than most people. Given their uniqueness and importance to the tropical forest ecosystem, their protection should be given priority.

Another orchid growing at the reserve headquarters, Sobralia caloglossa. The species name translates to “beautiful-lipped”. This plant was very tall for an orchid, standing easily 10 feet/3 meters high and arching over our heads. We also saw it growing wild along a road embankment in the forest.

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Further reading on giant armadillos.

Some good photos and a basic information page on the animals:

https://www.giantarmadillo.org/copy-of-home-1

 

An academic mammalogy study discussing in greater detail the burrowing and foraging habits of giant armadillos:

https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/98/3/770/3795581