Back in 2017, the Cass County Sheriff’s Department investigated a strange shooting.
According to local news, a man was trying to shoot a pesky armadillo when one of the bullets ricocheted and hit him in the head.
Nine extinct genera and 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are distinguished by the number of bands on their armour. All species are native to the Americas, where they inhabit a variety of different environments. pic.twitter.com/s666STVCz7
— World Heritage Site (@WorldHeritages) September 9, 2020
The unidentified man told deputies he stepped outside around 3am and fired several shots at the animal with a .38 caliber revolver. One of the bullets ricocheted back and struck him in the head instead. The injured man was airlifted to a hospital, where his broken jaw was wired shut.
The armadillo was never found and assumed to have wandered off uninjured.
The nine-banded armadillo is the only species of armadillo that is found in the United States. It crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in the late 19th century. At the same time, it was introduced in Florida by humans. By 1995, the species was found in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and recently seen as far north as southern Nebraska, Illinois, and Indiana. With very few natural predators, armadillos reproduce very quickly. They also carry a lot of diseases that can easily spread to other animals. Because of this, they are often viewed as pests.
The world's most interesting armored mammal: Armadillo!
You can see this animal in Uruguay.#Uruguay #Armadillo #Montevideo #Pangolin pic.twitter.com/EErH1GcPzo— World Heritage Site (@WorldHeritages) September 9, 2020
An armadillo’s shell is similar to a turtle’s, in which a rigid dermal bones form from the inner layers of the creature’s skin. Unlike a turtle shell, an armadillo shell has hundreds of individual scales that allow the animals have an impressive amount of mobility. Even though hundreds of these rigid scales cover almost their entire bodies, they can contort themselves to burrow into the ground and even deflect bullets.
For more fun facts about armadillos, watch the video below.