Nine-banded Armadillo + Reposts

Approximately 20 species of armadillo exist, but the nine-banded is the only one found in the United States. The term “armadillo” means “little armored one” in Spanish. A common misconception is that nine-banded armadillos can roll up into spherical balls. Nine-banded armadillos are found in the southeastern United States, but their range has been expanding continually northward for more than a hundred years. A few have even been spotted as far north as Illinois and Nebraska. I can remember when they were rarely seen in Oklahoma. Climate change will further expand their potential range.

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Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Canon 60D, Canon 70-300mm IS USM zoom, f/5.6, ISO 1600, 1/6000 sec.

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Nice and sharp and a worthy beast for any photoquest. The stick arising out of the back of the armadillo could be removed as it caught my eye. Otherwise, a good shot of a very interesting mammal. Well done…Jim

Thanks, Jim. Can you believe I completely missed seeing that stick? I was more concerned with the oof light branch above his ears. Good catch. Thanks

Hi Terry! Nice details on the Armadillo’s skin! You have such an awesome variety of wildlife! I can’t even imagine one of these up in Nebraska! It seems like it would be too cold for them! It shows how adaptable they are made.

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Hi, Vanessa. Thanks! This is one critter I would prefer not to host, as they use those powerful claws to dig n my yard, searching for grubs and other insects. They can be very destructive. But, you take the “bad” with the “good”.

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Wonderful captured, Terry. Being here in the Texas hill country I have seen these Armadillos many times. Only was able to get a photo once, I didn’t realize how fast they can be! Great detail/texture and love that he seems to be munching on the berries. Re-post works well at fixing the stick. Nicely seen.

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Thanks, Linda. I have no doubt that, living in Hill Country, you’ve seen your share of these critters. You are correct; when they take a notion, they can move pretty fast!

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Beautiful creature, I really like it’s metallic skin texture !
If you are not averse to cloning, the grass blades behind the face have to go.

Thanks, Jagdeep. I’m not great at cloning, but how is this?

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I can see some edges left behind on that last bit of grass going horizontal from the face. I will use the healing brush over and over to eliminate those, or the clone stamp from somewhere distant in the image. Sometimes you look at a thing so much you can’t see it anymore so I don’t always catch everything.

I’ve never seen an armadillo IRL and I’m a bit bummed. They’re such quirky, odd creatures. Maybe someday. In the meantime, keep making images like this to stoke my jealousy.

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Thanks, Kris. The truth is, I worked on that grass for a while until I finally said to myself, “It’s only an Armadillo. I’ll photograph more!” :grinning:

Please do not be jealous. If you want to see an armadillo IRL, I’ll ship you this one. I would be glad to see him gone! Okay, that’s probably illegal, but still…

Ha! They’re probably like badgers are up this way. Nice when they’re not digging up your yard.

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It appears to be quite neat now.

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