The Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is a distinct mammal recognized by its bony, armored shell, and it has steadily expanded its range across the southern and central United States. As this species moves into new regions, public interest often focuses on its diet, particularly its potential role in controlling local pest populations. Ticks, which are known vectors for diseases like Lyme disease, represent a significant public health concern throughout the same habitats where armadillos thrive. The question of whether these armored insectivores actively consume ticks has become a frequent topic of debate.
Addressing the Common Misconception
The simple answer is that armadillos do not significantly prey on ticks, nor are they a meaningful factor in tick population control. Armadillos are insectivores, primarily consuming insects and other small invertebrates, which likely fuels the common belief about their tick consumption. This misconception may also stem from confusion with other wildlife, such as the Virginia opossum, which is documented to consume large numbers of ticks incidentally while grooming. The armadillo’s foraging strategy is not structured to target the tiny, surface-dwelling ticks that typically quest on low vegetation or hide in leaf litter.
The Actual Diet of Armadillos
The diet of the Nine-banded Armadillo is highly specialized, focusing on invertebrate prey that lives beneath the soil surface. Their foraging behavior is characterized by using a keen sense of smell to locate food, often thrusting their long snouts into the ground and digging conical pits. Primary food sources include the larvae of beetles, commonly known as white grubs, which they find and excavate from the soil. They also consume large quantities of ants, termites, and other burrowing invertebrates like earthworms and millipedes.
Armadillos possess powerful claws designed for this extensive digging, allowing them to detect and retrieve prey up to eight inches deep beneath the surface. Once located, the prey is scooped up using a long, sticky tongue. This constant rooting and digging for subterranean meals defines the armadillo’s ecological niche. While less than ten percent of their diet consists of plant matter, they will occasionally eat small reptiles, amphibians, or carrion.
Why Ticks Are Not a Primary Food Source
Ticks are not a viable or efficient food source for armadillos primarily because of their size and location within the environment. Ticks are minute arachnids that spend most of their active time “questing,” which means climbing blades of grass or shrubs to wait for a host, or hiding in surface leaf litter. This habitat contrasts sharply with the subterranean hunting ground of the armadillo. The armadillo is focused on digging for larger, calorie-dense prey, such as grubs and beetle larvae, which provide a greater energy return for the effort expended.
Targeting individual ticks would require the armadillo to forage in an entirely different manner, systematically sweeping surface vegetation rather than digging. The energy cost of hunting for such tiny, scattered prey would be biologically inefficient. Any ticks consumed are likely ingested accidentally when the armadillo is sweeping up ants or other small invertebrates from the soil surface, or when consuming leaf litter and dirt along with a preferred meal.