Sloth World, 2025 (Part 1) — Tetrapod Zoology Like me, you are no doubt a big fan of sloths...

Secondly -- oh look, sloths! tetzoo.com/blog/2025/10... #xenarthrans #fossilmammals

Armadillo Empire, Part 2: Fairies, Tolypeutines, and Where Glyptodonts Go — Tetrapod Zoology Once more, it’s time to look at armadillos, both at their diversity and at some aspects of their evolutionary history…

The remarkably odd, mostly giant GLYPTODONTS are remarkably odd. But are they really _that_ remarkably odd, given that other #armadillos - yes, glyptodonts are armadillos - are remarkably odd too? A look ... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/6/... #mammals #evolution #xenarthrans

Armadillo Empire, Part 1: of Euphractines and Eutatines — Tetrapod Zoology If you’ve read recent articles here, you’ll have seen the coverage I’ve been giving to armadillos…

That old idea where glyptodonts are the cousins to ALL #armadillos? Nope. It was mostly overlooked until recently, but armadillo experts have been pushing the idea that glyptodonts are nested _within_ armadillos since at least 2006. This, and more... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/6/... #xenarthrans #mammals

Armadillo Empire, Part 1: of Euphractines and Eutatines — Tetrapod Zoology If you’ve read recent articles here, you’ll have seen the coverage I’ve been giving to armadillos…

Armadillo Empire, Part 1: of Euphractines and Eutatines -- now with some reader comments! tetzoo.com/blog/2025/6/... #armadillos #mammals #xenarthrans

Of Zaedyus, the Pichi — Tetrapod Zoology Let’s look at armadillos some more. Or, let’s look at more armadillos. I mean, let’s look more at armadillos. Whatever: armadillos! More.

Another #armadillo-themed article at Tetrapod Zoology, this time focusing on the unique Pichi of the south, a 'very pleasant armadillo' .... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/5/... #mammals #xenarthrans

The Fate of the Woolly Long-Nosed Armadillo of Peru — Tetrapod Zoology One of my favourite mammal assemblages of all is Xenarthra, the ‘strange joint’ group that includes the remarkable and odd anteaters, sloths and armadillos…

Next at TetZoo: MORE #ARMADILLOS! For the last set of armadillo-themed musings, see... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/4/... #xenarthrans

Xenarthran montage by Darren Naish. I’ve drawn a few xenarthrans over the years, but not as many as I should have by now. Here are a few illustrations I have to hand (Giant anteater, giant sloth, tree sloth, pampathere, glyptodont), but many more will be included in my textbook once I get to finishing it.

Image of Hairy or Woolly long-nosed armadillo in life, by Jorge González and included in Castro et al. (2015). It is not well known – even among people who know mammals – that there are armadillos that look like this.

Xenarthrans are among the best of the #mammals. Look at all this action: ANTEATERS - SLOTHS - ARMADILLOS. Sooo much extinct awesome too. But living #xenarthrans are full of surprises. Do you know of the WOOLLY LONG-NOSED ARMADILLOS? Well... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/4/...

Figure 1: Images of the femur of a Lestodon armatus specimen (CAV 977). Images of the femur of a Lestodon armatus specimen (CAV 977). (A) Entire femur in anterior view. Nutrient foramen is visible on the medial part of the diaphysis (black arrow). Scale bar equals 10 cm. (B) Close view of the nutrient foramen. Scale bar equals 1 mm.

From 2024: Femora nutrient foramina and aerobic capacity in giant extinct #xenarthrans 🦥

Luciano Varela​, Sebastián Tambusso, Richard Fariña

peerj.com/articles/178...

What was that skull? Well done and thanks to everyone who had a go at identifying the mystery skull, and congrats to TJ, Jorge Velez-Juarbe, Mark Lees and others: it was indeed a glyptodont, specifically a glyptodontine g...

My surprisingly popular 2008 article on glyptodont skulls can still be found, intact, at wayback machine... web.archive.org/web/20121020... #mammals #fossils #xenarthrans

However, one thing that was overlooked is the lower metabolic rates and core body temperatures of living #xenarthrans. Would these estimates of thermoneutrality hold up if ground sloths were on the low side metabolically speaking?

Predation and Corpse-Eating in Armadillos — Tetrapod Zoology It starts with the dragging off of a lamb. It ends with bearmadillos.

A very popular Tet Zoo article from 2020, which starts with #armadillos eating lambs and baby cows, goes via human cemeteries, and ends with bearmadillos .... Predation and Corpse-Eating in Armadillos tetzoo.com/blog/2020/9/... #xenarthrans #mammals