Webster County slowly, quietly being invaded

by MATT HUGHES

J-E News Editor

Although most people don’t know it yet, Kentucky has  been invaded. This creature, called an “Indian Monster” by King George II, King of England in 1728, is armor plated comes equipped with strong claws. It’s scientific name is Dasypus novemcinctus, but you would know it as an armadillo. The nine-banded armadillo to be more exact.

In May, Dr. Mike Siebert, DC, was leaving his driveway on Buntin Schoolhouse Rd between Manitou and Hanson, KY, when he spotted the body of an armadillo next to his driveway.

“There really isn’t much to tell,” Siebert said. “I was going down my driveway and there it was. It was probably about the size of a full grown opossum.” 

He quickly snapped a photo and posted it to Facebook.

“When I took ecology in college, our zoology professor told us this would happen,” said Siebert. “I’ve never laughed so hard at anyone in my life.”

On June 3, Caldwell County resident Roy Massey Jr. and his son spotted the body of an armadillo on the Clear Creek Bridge on 293, near the Webster County line.

“It looked like someone had run over it, and then laid it up on the railing of the bridge,” said Massey. “That’s the only one I’ve ever seen in this part of the country. It was somewhere between 18 and 22 inches long.”

Although rare, these aren’t the first reports in the bluegrass state. Most often they are spotted as road kill on the side of the road, as in these cases.

Current estimated armadillo expansion

 “I now see road kills on the Western Kentucky Parkway almost every time I go to western Kentucky.  I have seen them digging for grubs along the roadsides at LBL in January with snow on the ground,” said John MacGregor, a Herpetologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “They are moving northward from Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee and eastward from Missouri, and have invaded southern Illinois and southwest Indiana in recent years.  As the climate has gradually become milder more and more armadillos are surviving the winter and the species continues to expand its range.  In the mid-1980’s we only had occasional reports of armadillos; by the early 2000’s they had become fairly common as far east as LBL.”

“I recall the first report was a road kill in Aurora,” said Steve Bloemer, wildlife program manager at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL).

Bloemer has worked as a biologist since 1982 on this area, bordered by Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. Aurora, Kentucky lies at the western entrance to LBL on U.S. 68 in Marshall County.

“First there were reports from several counties in the region, then we started finding road kills in LBL and eventually we started seeing live armadillos here,” said Bloemer.

Reports, backed up by photographs, have been confirmed as far east as Rowan County, Knott County, and the Corbin area.

People often mistakenly believe that armadillos are dessert animals. In fact, scientist say that they are more adapted to life in swampy areas.

According to armadillo-online.org, “Armadillos like to swim, and they are very good at it. They have a strong dog paddle, and can even go quite a distance underwater, walking along the bottom of streams and ponds. They can hold their breath for four to six minutes at a time. When they need to cross larger bodies of water, they swim across. Because their heavy shell makes it hard for them to float, they gulp air into their intestines to make them more buoyant. The ability to cross streams and rivers has helped armadillos expand their home range.” 

But people have little to fear from this armored invader. The armadillo is an insect eater, and like it’s cousin the ant eater they catch their food thanks to a long sticky tongue.

“If you encounter an armadillo, leave it alone, said MacGregor. “They can’t bite – they only have 8 tiny peg teeth – but they can seriously scratch you with their long digging claws.  If you startle an armadillo it will jump straight up in the air – this is kind of cool to see – but it gets them killed when a car tries to miss one by straddling it on the highway.”

The nine-banded armadillo, which began its expansion as far back as 1850, is established as far east as South Carolina and as far west as southern Nebraska. But experts cannot agree on the reason for the rate at which the expansion has been taking place in recent years.