I met this large hairy armadillo (Chaetophractus villosus) when I was traveling from Ushuaia, Argentina to Santiago de Chile. We had just spent three days hiking at Los Glaciares National Park where we spotted a couple of Andean condors gliding. Then we traveled north and after driving all morning we stopped in the middle of nowhere for a lunch break.
We had left the mountains behind and were in a bare open space. After finishing my sandwich I went for a short walk to try and find any evidence of predators. I didn’t find what I was hoping to see, but I did spot some little birds, rodents, beetles and two large hairy armadillos. One, sadly, was dead and all that was left was its armor.
The other one, the one in this photo, was happily minding his own business. He was calm and wasn’t bothered at all by my presence. I took a couple of photographs and left him alone with his own lunch.
Cristina Garcia
Zoologist and wildlife photographer. She has worked in the field with jackals, wolves, cheetahs, & leopards. She serves on the Board of Directors of SEE Turtles, a non-profit sea turtle conservation organization.
Read her posts at Travel For Wildlife and see more of her work at Truly Wild, & Our Wild Yard.