Pink Fairy Armadillo

Nature 4 Minutes

The pink color of their shell is due to a network of blood vessels underneath, which can be seen through the armor.

This is what gives the pink fairy armadillo shell its pink or pale-rose appearance.

The armored shell contains 24 bands that allow the pink fairy armadillo to curl up into a ball to protect its vulnerable soft underbelly.

While its shell is much softer than and more flexible than other armadillos, it still acts as armor.

Of all armadillo species, the pink fairy armadillo is the only one whose dorsal shell is totally separate from its body.

It is connected to the body with only a thin membrane, which runs right along its spine.

Scientists believe the pink fairy armadillo shell helps with thermoregulation.

Since its blood vessels are so close to the surface, the armadillo can control the amount of surface area is exposed to the environment to gain or lose heat.

The pink fairy armadillo shell can change color.

This is dependent on the environment and thermoregulation of the armadillo. Irrigation of the blood can increase into carapace of the shell to help lose heat and increase the ‘pink’ appearance. Conversely, it can drain blood from out of the shell to retain body heat which makes the shell color paler.

It’s equipped with two massive sets of claws on its front and hind legs.

They serve as tools to assist with quickly digging burrows in compacted soil. A very rare video below captures a pink fairy armadillo doing what pink fairy armadillos do best: digging.

The pink fairy armadillo has earned an unusual nickname the ‘sand-swimmer’.

It was long presumed by biologists that they could ‘swim’ through sand like a fish swimming in a body of water. However, that is a myth, the pink fairy armadillo actually digs through sand using their claws.

The posterior portion of their shell, known as the ‘butt plate’ – is flattened, so that it can compress dirt behind it as its digging.

It does so to close the burrow behind it, and create more open space in front so it can breathe. Mariella Superina a biologist managed to capture this behavior in a video below.

The claws of the Pink Fairy Armadillo make it hard to walk on hard surfaces.

Because of the size of the digging claws, which are actually large in comparison to the scale of the animal, they make walking on anything other than sand and soft surfaces very difficult.

Pink fairy armadillos are extremely sensitive to changes in environmental conditions and stress resulting from it can be devastating.

As they are classified as subterranean armadillos, any form of environmental change can have an impact on them including extreme changes in temperature or soil quality.

The desert-adapted characteristics of the pink fairy armadillo severely limits the type of habitat it can occupy.

In order for these mammals to survive, they require undisturbed regions that contain enough compact sand and hiding places for protection from elements and predators.

As a fossorial generalist insectivore, the pink fairy armadillo has a primary diet which is easily and quickly supplemented when required.

Ants and larvae that are located underground make up the main diet for this mammal and in instances when these food sources do not exist, the pink fairy armadillo will turn to plant leaves and roots.

With very small eyes, the pink fairy armadillo finds its way around in a unique manner that does not require vision.

The navigation skills of this animal come directly from touch and hearing.

The body of the pink fairy armadillo has a great deal to do with how it is able to move underground.

It has a torpedo-shape which reduces the amount of drag when burrowing underground.The tail of the pink fairy armadillo is more than just an appendage that hangs from the rear of the body.Because it is thick and hairless, the tail is used for balance and stability when all other limbs are being used for other tasks.Rain presents life-threatening risks to the pink fairy armadillo.Because it lives in burrows, during heavy rain the armadillo will vacate the underground to avoid being drowned. Plus, if it gets its fur wet, the pink fairy armadillo can’t properly thermoregulate and may develop hypothermia in the cooler hours overnight.

Oddly enough, on the black market, many of these mammals have been sold as pets. However, their low survival rate in captivity has greatly impacted that practice.

Climate change could virtually eliminate the entire pink fairy population.

Because they have very little body fat and a low metabolism rate, cold temperatures could result in the extinction of this animal. Habitat loss it already contributing to a decline in population.

Farming presents two very different risks to the pink fairy armadillo population.

In addition to farmland destroying burrows, the use of pesticide can impact the mammal. The pesticides adhere to the bodies of ants and as ants are one food source for the pink fairy armadillo, the more one ingests, the sicker it can get.

Hunters have also contributed to the decline in pink fairy armadillo population.

Pink fairy armadillos have been harvested for consumption for decades. The fact that they have a taste and texture that has been compared to pork has added to the endangerment.

They are so rare, nobody really knows their conservation status and whether they are an endangered species.

Mariella Superina a biologist for National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina’s Conservation has been trying to assess their risk of extinction and in 13 years of field work has never seen a pink fairy armadillo in the wild. She has only seen tracks, which stop suddenly, and appear to be where the armadillo has disappeared underground.

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Published by pat frederick

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164 thoughts on “Pink Fairy Armadillo”

  8. “‘Unprecedented corruption’ – Ukrainian business federation says corruption is damaging country’s defensive capabilities–Rampant coercion, corruption and impunity have reached alarming levels in Ukraine, prompting businesses to raise their voices in protest”
    June 30, 2023
    editor: GRZEGORZ ADAMCZYK author: PAP via: BUSINESSINSIDER.COM.PL

    “Ukraine, a country already known for vast amounts of corruption, has grown far worse in this regard since the war broke out, and the business community is demanding action. The Federation of Employers of Ukraine, representing Ukrainian entrepreneurs, issued an appeal to President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, demanding action to curb the abuse of power by government officials. The abuse of power by military officials and judges has crossed all limits, according to Ukrainian entrepreneurs, who are calling for the establishment of a public registry to identify corrupt officials.

    They argue that corruption on an unprecedented scale is eroding Ukraine’s defensive capabilities. Despite the ongoing war, they contend that the level of coercion, corruption and impunity among state officials is currently the highest in history, as reported by the Ukrainian Pravda news portal.

    “In extremely difficult conditions of war, Ukrainian business has become the pillar of the state. Paying taxes, volunteer projects, supporting the armed forces and investing, protecting jobs, and ensuring stable payment of salaries are signs of normality for citizens, which businesses provide in these difficult times,” stated the manifesto signed by 42 heads of both small and large companies with thousands of employees.

    “The unjust exercise of power of bribe-takers in uniforms and judicial robes has reached intolerable levels. Given the ongoing war, such behavior goes beyond mere criminality,” the document reads. “Anyone who engages in extortion and sells the honor of a uniform or judge’s robe for bribes during wartime must be held accountable,” the entrepreneurs wrote in their appeal to President Zelensky.

    They emphasized that corruption on an unprecedented scale undermines Ukraine’s defensive capabilities since the military is funded by taxes, and the abuse of power by Ukrainian bureaucrats has already caused two waves of emigration of entrepreneurs from Ukraine. “Because the plunderers in the state service are confident that they can act without consequences, the business community takes up this challenge. We will create a public register of corrupt law enforcement officers and judges,” the entrepreneurs wrote, urging the president to use his powers and intervene.

    They expressed their readiness to provide the names of service personnel and judicial representatives who extort bribes or unlawfully seize enterprises.”

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Supreme Court STRIKES DOWN Biden’s $400 billion student loan forgiveness: President will address nation TODAY as he plots fightback

    Fight back umm you mean for the votes. See Dems keep it up. No rules for them

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Steven Crowder’s divorce turns bitter as he demands full custody of one-year-old twins despite once claiming fathers are ‘largely useless’ – as wife tells court he was NOT present for their birth and has rage issues

    Liked by 2 people

      1. From what little video I’ve seen of the 2 of them interacting told me he is a real asshole, tbh. And he is going for full custody, not even half/half from what it appears…

        Liked by 1 person

  14. Michigan residents could be charged with a felony, face up to five years in prison and get a $10,000 fine for using the wrong PRONOUNS under ‘unconstitutional’ new bill critics say mocks First Amendment

    Liked by 2 people

    1. this is absolutely disgusting. this proves they are not migrants, they are “conquerors” hellbent on the destruction of host countries.
      they need to be expelled and we need to do something similar here before it gets out of hand.
      our cultures are NOT compatible

      Like

  19. Jenevive
    June 30, 2023 3:38 pm

    From Jack Posebiec on twitter

    BREAKING: JACK SMITH PREPARING 45 CHARGES ON TRUMP AND HIS ALLIES IN RELATION TO JAN 6

    They just can;t help themselves.. President Trump will get a new Title.. The most indicted man
    in history..what number are we up to now?

    Liked by 1 person

  26. speaking of reparations…the loonies in ca are screaming what do we want? reparations when do we want them? now crap
    and they’re screaming that America should consider this a divorce…
    the replies to this story were HILARIOUS!
    in a divorce, one side leaves–the screamers should leave and NEVER return
    we’ve been paying alimony (in the form of public assistance) for years–they need to pay that back OR we’ll just call it even!
    we paid reparations years ago in blood sweat and tears in the civil war…you’re welcome, now shut up.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. THIS IS INSANE!!!

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ ValiantNews: “45th President Donald Trump will soon be charged with at least 101 crimes as the Biden Department of Justice and Special Counsel Jack Smith reportedly plan to introduce an “additional 30 to 45 charges” against the former president in the coming days. A new report by The Independent claims prosecutors are likely to bring new charges against both Trump and those in his orbit “in the coming weeks”:

    ‘The Independent understands that prosecutors’ decision on whether to seek additional charges from a grand jury — and where to seek them — will depend in part on whether they feel the Trump-appointed district judge overseeing the case against him in the Southern District of Florida, Aileen Cannon, is giving undue deference to the twice-impeached, now twice-indicted former president.

    The team of federal prosecutors working under Special Counsel Jack Smith is currently prepared to add an “additional 30 to 45 charges” in addition to the 37-count indictment brought against Mr Trump on 8 June, either in a superseding indictment in the same Florida court or in a different federal judicial district. In either case, they would do so using evidence against the ex-president that has not yet been publicly acknowledged by the department, including other recordings prosecutors have obtained which reveal Mr Trump making incriminating statements.’

    Jack Smith’s new charges alone will mean Trump, the first president to ever be criminally charged in American history, faces between 67 and 82 federal charges from the Biden Department of Justice. At the same time, Trump is facing a 34-count federal indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in New York. Combined, Trump may soon conservatively be charged with 101 separate crimes. The number could swell to 116, should Smith successfully convince a grand jury to agree with the high end estimate reported by The Independent.

    Meanwhile, many pundits expect Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, another elected Democrat, to bring additional charges against Trump in Georgia over his attempts to assert his victory in the 2020 election.

    Trump’s approval ratings and support within the crowded Republican primary field of candidates have both risen after each of his previous criminal indictments, though some high profile allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are urging Republicans to ditch Trump over the drama.

    Other reports claim those inside the DeSantis campaign are “actively cheering” for the indictments against Trump because they believe the legal actions will prove a boon to the Florida governor. Trump has vigorously maintained his innocence and declared the legal machinations part of the long running “witch hunt” against him and his supporters.”

    Liked by 1 person

  30. interesting thesis by wayne allen root
    entire article
    There are five obvious things almost everyone who isn’t blind, deaf, or really dumb knows at this point…

    Joe Biden is the most crooked, corrupt and compromised politician in the history of the Presidency.
    The Biden Crime family operated as an organized crime organization.
    Biden and his Biden Crime Family extorted tens of millions of dollars from companies like Burisma, and countries like China and Ukraine when Biden was Vice President of the USA.
    Biden made decisions as President that directly benefited the countries or companies he was bribed and compromised by.
    Biden and the Biden Crime Family are owned lock, stock and barrel by our #1 enemy, China and the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).

    Members of Congress are now reporting that Biden-related firms and partnerships received around $40 million in payments (ie bribes) while he was Vice President.

    Knowing all of that, does anyone doubt that Biden has continued extorting and stealing and accepting millions in bribes as President? Wasn’t that the whole point of Biden getting elected President? The Biden Crime Family saw this as a step-up-in-class. The bad guys would control the DOJ, FBI and CIA. This was an organized crime family dream-come-true!

    Here is a lesson in crime for you. The easiest way for a politician or government bureaucrat to steal is by overpaying for government contracts with taxpayer money. You overpay by millions, and then you either keep the overpayment, or split it with the company you bought it from. Everyone gets rich.

    This goes on every day in our government. I believe virtually every government agency official is stealing taxpayer money by the millions by overpaying for government contracts.

    As an example, every time the government pays $1 billion for tanks, or ships, or fighter jets, or bullets, what makes you think the real bill wasn’t $900 million? That leaves $100 million to split up between politicians, government bureaucrats and the defense contractor. Who’d ever know? Who’s gonna talk? Everyone got rich.

    That brings me to what may be the biggest Biden scam ever. Or perhaps it’s just one of many.

    I believe Biden and his cronies stole a minimum of $900 million from taxpayers with one deal. And maybe as much as $1.1 billion.

    It’s a very simple story. A fan of my national radio and TV shows contacted me. He is in the business of importing medical supplies. More specifically he imported Covid test kits from a Chinese company. He paid $1 per test kit for 100,000 kits at a time.

    Common sense, or any rudimentary understanding of business, would tell you the more test kits you buy, the lower the cost. If you buy 200,000 kits, it should cost less than $1 per kit. If you buy one million test kits the price should go to perhaps as low as 50 cents each.

    But what if our government buys over 400 million Covid test kits? Could the price go to 30 cents each? How about 20 cents? 400 million is an awful lot of test kits.

    Well last year the Biden administration bought over 300 million test kits from a Chinese company. And then they came back and quickly bought 100 million more. That’s 400 million Covid test kits.

    And here’s where the story gets really interesting. Biden bought the EXACT same test kits from the EXACT same Chinese company as my fan in the import business did. We are talking apples to apples. This is an exact match.

    So even if you assume $1 per kit…the same price my fan paid for 100,000 kits…the bill for 400 million kits would be $400 million dollars.

    Well, the entire contract and price was disclosed in the media last year. Guess what the Biden administration paid for 400 million test kits? $1.3 billion dollars.

    That’s at least an overpayment of $900 million dollars of taxpayer money.

    Again, that’s assuming our government paid $1 per test kit, when the actual bill for 400 million kits should certainly have been no more than 50 cents each. So really any payment over $200 million would have been highway robbery.

    That means the overpayment was probably more like $1.1 billion.

    Again, this contract and price was all publicly disclosed in the media last year.

    Knowing the lifetime of corruption Biden has been involved in…and Hunter Biden’s laptop with proof of crimes, extortion and bribery…and proof that Biden himself is “the Big Guy”…and knowing that the Bidens accepted $10 million from Burisma…and knowing Congressman James Comer says his committee’s investigation shows Biden stole $40 million as Vice President in multiple deals…

    Does anyone doubt that Biden and the Biden Crime Family got all or some portion of this $900 million to $1.1 billion overpayment? Perhaps the Big Guy got $100 million as a 10% commission. Maybe he split it 50/50 with the Chinese company (which is undoubtedly owned by the CCP). Or maybe Biden just kept the whole billion dollars of taxpayer money for himself.

    Maybe this is one of many government contracts that Biden used to rob taxpayers blind in the past 2 ½ years. Maybe he’s stolen tens of billions. Afterall, he’s no longer the VP. President Joe Biden is in the Big Leagues now!

    Or maybe, Biden is really so dumb and incompetent, he simply overpaid a billion dollars of your taxpayer money to China and the CCP.

    I’ll leave that for a Congressional committee to decide.

    My gut instincts say this was the crime of the century. Somewhere offshore, the Chinese Communist Party divided up a billion dollars with the Biden Crime Family.

    And my educated guess is, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

    https://rootforamerica.com/the-crime-of-the-century/

    Liked by 1 person

  32. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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