Hobbies And Interests
Temperate Forests
Only the nine-banded armadillo lives in the temperate forests of North America. Here, it forges for food on the forest floor, alongside the white-tailed deer, cottontail rabbit, eastern gray squirrel, beaver, opossum and skunk. Carnivorous predators, including the black bear, cougar, wolf, coyote and raccoon also live in this region. Perhaps most importantly, beetles, ants and termites abound, providing a steady food source.
Rain Forests
The rain forests of Central and South America are home to a great number of species, including monkeys, sloths, giant otters, toucans, macaws, anacondas and capybaras. Jaguars and black caimans are among the armadillo's predators here. Here also, the giant armadillo's favorite food source, mound-building termites, build giant structures, which the armadillo tears apart with its claws so it can lick up the insects with its long tongue.
Grasslands
In North America, where the grasslands are commonly called prairies, the nine-banded armadillo lives alongside prairie dogs, jackrabbits, badgers and burrowing owls. Foxes and coyotes are its primary predators. In the South American savannas and pampas, armadillos share their habitat with rheas and Geoffrey's cats, as well as domestic livestock, such as sheep and cattle.
Semideserts
Mountain lions, coyotes, rattlesnakes, kangaroo rats and hawks are found along with armadillos in semidesert regions. As with all of the armadillo's biomes, ants, termites and other insects also abound. The nine-banded armadillo is the only armadillo that inhabits the semideserts of the southern United States, where it burrows into the dry soil with its sharp claws. The lesser rhea, Patagonian hare, puma and foxes share the semiarid regions of Argentina, where species, such as the dwarf armadillo, make their home.