Alex Playing in October

The baby armadillo, Alex, we have been monitoring since its birth 17 months ago has had two camera trap pictures of him been selected by the BBC Wildlife Camera-trap Photo of the Year 2014. One picture was commended in the Rare species category and the other one was a runner up in the new Behavior category. Check it out!
It was believed that young giant armadillos disperse from their mothers at 6 weeks of age. This an estimate based on research from other species. It has been 17 months now since Alex was born and he continues interacting and sharing his mother’s territory. Although he forages alone, he uses burrows that she digs and only recently began digging a few burrows. This new information is extremely important and demonstrates how rare, and how much care each baby giant armadillo requires. Females therefore produce very few young and each animal is extremely precious. This explains why giant armadillos have gone locally extinct in so many areas throughout their range. Too few young are born and the removal of any individual has huge consequences on the population.
http://www.discoverwildlife.co...