Armadillo

Ranking The Kingdom

Fifteen reviews in and nature's Little Armored One is finally stepping into the limelight! That's right, this week we're reviewing the small and anything-but-defenseless Armadillo!

We all know that Armadillos are resilient, but do they have what it takes to be a top contender on Ranking The Kingdom? We'll learn all about how much pressure their shells can take (Spoilers: It's a lot), what exactly makes their intestines so special, and why something as simple as a storm could spell disaster for entire populations of this highly defensive animal. You'll also discover what life-threatening disease almost a quarter of these guys carry, and which species are capable of rolling into a ball to escape their predators. It's a tiny tank this time around on Ranking the Kingdom. Do they have it in them to succeed? Do we have a new top contender to the animal throne? Listen in and find out!

Note: The word Xenarthra is spelled with an "X", not a "Z" like I accidentally say in the episode. I got a little ahead of myself there...

If you are new to the show and don't quite get how this whole "ranking animals" thing works, please head over to the show's website for a quick explanation of the rating system, or download Your Review and You, a quick 10 minute episode of the podcast that covers everything you need to know! Also rate and subscribe to Ranking the Kingdom on iTunes, and don't hesitate to follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@rankthekingdom) for updates and links to interesting animal facts on occasion!

The Ranking the Kingdom subreddit is a great place to reach out to me or the community as well, or you can even send me an email at [e-mail]. For those of you with podcast apps that do not display pictures, you can go here to view each episode's set: rankingthekingdom.libsyn.com.

Episode Guide:

(0:00 - 2:32) - Intro: Short, and, Sweet.

(2:42 - 8:15) - Unsorted Facts: Nine-Banded, The Americas, Armadillo on the Half Shell.

(8:25 - 19:35) - Instinct/ Evolution: Poor Senses, Good Senses, Inflation.

(19:45 - 27:05) - Offense/ Defense: Armor, Claws, Disease.

(27:15 - 33:41) - Society/ Resourcefulness: Loners, Cold, Fours.

(33:51 - 46:12) - Legacy/ Future: Story Time, Disease Time, Population Estimation.

(46:22 - 59:35) - The Ranking: The part of the episode where we mercilessly determine exactly where mother nature went wrong.

Pictures:

(Nine-Banded Armadillo Distribution)

http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?sourceTemplate=subset_tabular_report.wmt&loadTemplate=species_RptComprehensive.wmt&elKey=100467&paging=home&save=false&summaryView=subset_tabular_report.wmt&selectedRtype=&reset=false&pageStartIndex=1&radiobutton=radiobutton

(Nine-Banded Armadillo)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/meddaugh/6370302557

(Three-Banded Armadillo Ball)

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/billbouton/7281269470/

(Armadillo Teeth)

http://www.azdrybones.com/edentates.htm

(Armadillo Claws)

http://www.azdrybones.com/edentates.htm

(Baby Armadillo)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/25174003@N00/21088100480

(The Charango, A Wizard’s Instrument)

http://serviciospro.wanadoo.es/josemariahiend/instrumentos_musica6.html

Sources:

Thank you to Silent Partner for the intro/ transition/ outro music, “Cloud Patterns”.

And thank you to the following sources for all of the free information:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/armadillo/ (Armadillo Basics)

https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Mammals/Nine-Banded-Armadillo.aspx (Armadillo NWF)

http://www.havahart.com/armadillo-facts (Armadillo Facts)

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/05/leapin-lizards-dillos-carry-leprosy/ (Armadillos and Leprosy)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenarthra (Armadillos, Anteaters, Sloths)

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/11/scienceshot-armadillos-bad-eyesight-could-shed-light-human-blindness (Armadillo Sense of Sight and Smell)

http://cincinnatizoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Three-Banded-Armadillo-complete1.pdf (Three-Banded Armadillo)

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmor.10475/full (Osteoderm Formation in Armadillos)

http://meyersgroup.ucsd.edu/papers/journals/Meyers%20348.pdf (Armadillo Armor Strength)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL57U9tsiNY (Armadillo Fight)

http://www.americanscientist.org/my_amsci/restricted.aspx?act=pdf&id=3079854283288 (Armadillo Always Has Four Babies)

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/the_armadillos_song.html (“Armadillo’s Song” by S.E. Shlossler)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy (Leprosy Wikipedia)

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/04/yes-you-can-get-leprosy-armadillo (Leprosy in Armadillos)

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6290/0 (Nine-Banded Armadillo)

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/21975/0 (Three-Banded Armadillo)

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/89604632/0 (Screaming Hairy Armadillo)
Thank you as well to the following musicians for providing their tracks royalty free on Youtube:

Air Hockey Saloon by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/vendaface/

Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/

Transcend by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Take Off and Shoot a Zero by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/stuntisland/

Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/

CGI Snake by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/divider/

Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/

Clean Soul - Calming by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300033

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

I Am Running with Temporary Success from a Monstrous Vacuum by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/honor/

Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/