Animals

Pairi Daiza Foundation

TICKETS & RESERVATIONS

Hairy Armadillo

 Grand Tatou velu – Pairi Daiza
Mammal

In the event of danger, it lies flat on the ground, protected by its armour

Some thirty centimetres long, this South American Hairy Armadillo has a kind of bony plate on its head, and on its back, a shell articulated into 18 vertical bands, bristling with hairs growing at the joints, on its belly and on its clawed feet. Whence its name.

In the event of danger, it withdraws its legs and lies flat on the ground, protected by its armour.

Like its cousins of the Edentata order, sloths and anteaters, the armadillo has few teeth. Certain species of armadillo even have a food specialisation: termites, which they eat after smashing the termite mounds with their large claws, capturing them with their long sticky tongues, without chewing them.

This animal does not like the heat and they are best observed at dawn or dusk.

The female has an astonishing ability to delay the development of the embryo that she is carrying, according to environmental circumstances (climate, abundance or lack of food…) in such a way that the nascent baby can be put on “standby” for several months!

In Pairi Daiza

Hairy Armadillos

In Pairi Daiza, you can observe the couple of Hairy Armadillos: Ta and Tou

 Grand Tatou velu – Pairi Daiza
Identity card

A less threatened species

  • Name: Hairy Armadillo
  • Latin name: Chaetophractus villosus
  • Origin: From Central Brazil to Southern Argentina
  • IUCN status: Least concerned
  • Cites : --

Sponsor the Hairy Armadillos

Sponsorship amounts are exclusively for the Pairi Daiza Foundation for projects for the conservation and protection of threatened species.

Je parraine les Grands Tatous velus