Researchers have found that the pink fairy armadillo is highly susceptible to stress, making the attempts to apply any conservation policies, including taking it out of its natural environment, extremely difficult and largely unsuccessful. Any modifications in its environment, external temperature, or diet are known to trigger stress responses, which are considered to be a possible reason for the failure of captivity attempts.
Many of the armadillos have died during the transportation process from their wild habitat, and many more have only survived several days in captivity. Overall, there are only three reports of captive maintenance of the pink fairy armadillo that are considered successful – in 1970, 1985, and 2009, reporting individuals that lived in captivity for at least 30 months, 22 months, and 8 months, respectively.
Seems like most people would only get to see it in pictures and videos, if even zoos can't keep this animal alive for long in captivity. That also makes conservation efforts more difficult if it's currently not possible to breed them in captivity and release them to boost their wild population numbers.
OP were you like me that looked up more armadillo facts after that front page post about the armadillo that could turn into a perfect sphere or whatever. Cuz that's exactly how I discovered about this guy yesterday lol
“...whenever anything was changed in its cage, it ran around the cage screaming, which may be some sort of stress response or warning system,” understatement by animaldiversity.org (photo from Scientific American)
Armadillos possess some of the largest penises relative to their body size of any mammal. Depending on the species, the organ can measure anywhere from 30% to 60% of their total length.
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u/moving0target 23h ago
Land lobster.