ARMADILLO MEANS "LITTLE ARMORED ONE"

  I created this wildlife photo at one of my favorite shooting locations here in central Florida, the Circle B Bar Reserve. It is of a wild Armadillo that was foraging in the grass near the Nature Discovery Center. These Small placental mammals are covered in a very hard, leathery armoured shell. In fact, the word armadillo means "little armored one" in Spanish. There are at least two excellent reasons not to handle an Armadillo. The first is it's teeth and front claws. While it's bite can be serious, it's front claws are much more capable of causing severe injury and bleeding. They are probably almost constantly sharpened by the digging it does to eat. The Armadillo is not typically an aggressive animal and if you end up bitten or cut, it is almost certainly your own fault for trying to handle a live animal. The other excellent reason not to handle this animal is that it is a possible carrier for a disease known as Leprosy or Hansen's disease. In the state of Florida there has been a rise in the reported number of Leprosy cases though it is not a serious health threat to the public at this time. It is a treatable and probably curable disease nowadays, but in the past it was a probable death sentence by natural causes or at least a life in isolation to prevent the spread of the disease. As long as you are creating your wildlife photo from a reasonable distance you should not encounter any problems.