TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — If you have been out recently and thought you might have seen an armadillo passing by, you are not going crazy.
There are a number of armadillos right here in the Wabash Valley and their population continues to rise.
Armadillos belong to their own family of insect-eating animals.
According to Brad Westrich of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, it took millions of years for armadillos to spread from South America, but the nine-banded armadillo has made its way to North America.
He said the animals are around the size of a small cat, but with the shell of a turtle.
In 2003, the first sightings of armadillos were reported in Indiana and Westrich said we will continue to see them because they love water and highway environments.
“Armadillos really like these forested habitats that also go along rivers, lakes, ponds, things like that, but habitats along highways also kind of mirror those forest river habitats”, Westrich said. “We manage those areas in such a way that insects love all those habitats, so armadillos are going to find them. Its a very easy mode of travel to move along a highway right of way, so areas like Evansville and Terre Haute just happen to be these hubs where you have habitats that are converging and where a lot of people are, so you’re going to get a lot of observations in those areas.”
Westrich went on to say that armadillos are harmless to people, however they could become a nuisance in the future because of their constant digging as they burrow into the ground for food.
