![]() By 1974, they were pushing deeper into Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama and the Floridians were moving north into Georgia. By 1954, they’d made it across the Big Muddy and were common in southern Mississippi and southern Alabama – with a separate colony in Florida often attributed to a population released by a small zoo in 1924 and others who escaped from a travelling circus in 1936. Armadillos have been on the move ever since, sometimes by hoofin’ it on foot, sometimes by hitchhiking on trains and trucks. (The name “armadillo” is Spanish for “little armored one.”) But then they crossed the Rio Grande – they’re said to be surprisingly good swimmers – and established themselves in Texas to such an extent that in 1927 it was declared the official state small mammal. They were solely a creature of what today we’d call Latin America – from South America north to Mexico. Before 1849, there was apparently not a single armadillo north of the Rio Grande. The noble armadillo may waddle, and it may waddle slowly, but waddle it does. Other Texas lore remembers the doughty little armadillo as “possum on the halfshell” or “Hoover hogs” – respectable eatin’ during the Great Depression. They don’t run too fast, don’t waste much gas, I’m makin’ lots o’dough I’m talking walkin’ belts and neckties and boots for rodeo Waddlin’ down 1291 to keep their bodies warm The singer Robert Earl Keen has a song called “The Armadillo Jackal” in which his protagonist is hunting armadillos out on the farm-to-market road: ![]() Of these, armadillos are clearly the most unusual, because we think of them as a denizen of the Texas desert. ![]() ![]() So, too, do animals, and these are three of the critters now migrating into Virginia. Throughout history, people have migrated around the world. Other parts of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge now have fishers (a type of weasel) and porcupines. Climate change might be playing a part in this.) Although maybe “cool” isn’t the word we want here. The world is changing in many ways but here’s one way you may not know about: Southwest Virginia now has armadillos. ![]()
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