Food Chain
• The armadillo is an omnivore. The diet consists primarily of animal matter, but is adaptable based on foraging conditions. In areas with little insect prey but large amounts of berries or other plant material, the nine-banded armadillo will readily switch to a more vegetarian diet. The armadillos forage for insects, spiders, and small amphibians; they predominately seem to prefer beetles and ants. They have been known to kill and eat young cottontail rabbits, and are also known to eat scraps of carrion.
Although the nine-banded armadillo is often accused of eating the eggs and young of ground nesting birds such as quail, birds and their eggs make up less than 0.4% of the diet of an average armadillo. Nine-banded armadillos have a salivary bladder surrounded by skeletal muscle, unique among mammals.
The salivary bladder acts as a reservoir for the thick, sticky saliva used to capture small insects. When the armadillo is feeding, the muscles around the salivary bladder contract, squeezing the stored saliva out onto the tongue. (https://www.msu.edu/~nixonjos/armadillo/dasypus.html)
Although the nine-banded armadillo is often accused of eating the eggs and young of ground nesting birds such as quail, birds and their eggs make up less than 0.4% of the diet of an average armadillo. Nine-banded armadillos have a salivary bladder surrounded by skeletal muscle, unique among mammals.
The salivary bladder acts as a reservoir for the thick, sticky saliva used to capture small insects. When the armadillo is feeding, the muscles around the salivary bladder contract, squeezing the stored saliva out onto the tongue. (https://www.msu.edu/~nixonjos/armadillo/dasypus.html)
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•Nine-banded Armadillos usually feed on termites and certain ant species.
•The Nine-banded Armadillo is a heterotroph, as it uses organic carbon obtained through eating its prey for food.
•The fact that the Armadillo eats both vegetation (berries, nuts) and other animals (bugs) makes the Nine-banded Armadillo an omnivore, though it is primarily an insectivore, due to its preference for termites and ants.
•The Nine-banded Armadillo is a heterotroph, as it uses organic carbon obtained through eating its prey for food.
•The fact that the Armadillo eats both vegetation (berries, nuts) and other animals (bugs) makes the Nine-banded Armadillo an omnivore, though it is primarily an insectivore, due to its preference for termites and ants.