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Thu 24 Aug, 2017 09:23 am
I've seen this twice, in Central Texas (Limestone County). I regard it as unusual because it's my understanding that nine-banded armadillos are essentially solitary and not pair-bonded.
When coming upon a car-slain armadillo in the road, I will find another adult close at hand, nosing around the corpse with great interest, sometimes appearing to attempt to dig into it ("scrabbling" at it may be a better description). The first time, I assumed the hanger-on was attempting to rouse the victim. The second time, just a couple nights ago, it briefly occurred to me that I might be witnessing scavenging (but implausible, because insectivore). Then it occurred to me I might be witnessing inadvertent necrophilia.
On both occasions, I had to physically threaten the hanger-on in order to drive it off the road and out of harm's way.
Any ideas?
@Byff70,
Parent lost a child maybe?
@Byff70,
Quote:Armadillos primarily eat grubs, ants and other insects.
http://www.whateats.com/what-eats-an-armadillo
Maybe the live armadillo is harvesting bugs off of the carcass for food.
@rosborne979,
Given the relative sizes, this is very unlikely. In the first observation, both were adults and of a similar size. In the more recent observation, both were adults but the victim was notably larger.
@tsarstepan,
That is a possibility. But then, you might expect to see them foraging on carcasses of other kinds of animals too. I've seen a lot of roadkill in this area, but armadillos so far only seem drawn to other armadillos.
It's also difficult to believe that there are enough insects to harvest that soon after the kill. I can't speak to the time frame between death and observation in the first case, but in the second, I'd ridden my bicycle through the same area mere hours earlier. The killing almost certainly occurred after nightfall, which provides a time window of no more than three hours (and up to eight if it occurred before nightfall, say minutes after I first passed through the area).
@Byff70,
Could it be a mate? Do mating pairs of armadillos stay together for any period of time? Or maybe the dead one was a female in heat and the male followed a pheromone trail?
@rosborne979,
rosborne979 wrote:
Or maybe the dead one was a female in heat and the male followed a pheromone trail?
Wouldn't that make for an awful romcom movie. The two go on dates with separate armadillos but on the same day, time, and place. They have so much in common but are strangers to each other.
They pass each other often like two ships at night throughout the movie. In the third act, our protagonist finally learns of the other armadillo. Knows she's the one. Goes on a foot chase to find her.
You know already know the ending.
@Byff70,
If it had been necrophilia would you have been moved to intercede to protect the modesty of the departed?
Didn't you ever stop to think that he was an Armadillo CSI specialist trying to decide if there was a sexual assault aspect to the pick up truck that ran down the deceased to begin with.
You have a very dark mind, my friend.
@rosborne979,
That's kind of what I'm wondering. The information I've found so far indicates they're not pair-bonded, and don't share burrows.
I've had some hurricane-related communications issues the past few days, but I popped in to mention that I may be able to salvage some footage from my bicycle cam, which could clarify matters.
@emmett grogan,
Don't CSI types carry badges? I also saw no indication of any attempt to preserve the integrity of the evidence. The "specialist" was not wearing booties.
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