Free Republic

Dallas police are on the lookout for a man who could face assault charges for throwing a frozen armadillo at a 57-year-old woman near Dallas. The woman, My Fox Dallas-Fort Worth reports, met the man in a parking lot to purchase the armadillo carcass, which she planned to eat. During a fight over its price, he hit her with the animal in the leg and the chest, leaving bruises on her body.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A strain of leprosy found in armadillos has been identified in dozens of people in the southern United States, indicating the skin disease can be transmitted directly from animals to humans. The findings are the first to confirm a long-suspected link between the disease in armadillos and humans, but are not a sign that a new epidemic is underway, researchers said. Rather, the report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that the disease, most often found in India, can originate in the United States and infect humans who hunt armadillo and butcher the...

WEVER, Iowa,- Experts said an armadillo found dead at the side of a southeastern Iowa road may have been part of an early species range expansion. Ron Andrews, a biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said armadillos are commonly found in the south central and southeastern United States, Mexico and South America, but one of the animals was found Saturday at the side of the road by a rural couple near Wever, The (Burlington, Iowa) Hawk Eye, reported Wednesday. He said the animal may have been part of an early species range expansion. "In southeast Iowa, the chances...

PEORIA, Ill. -- This industrial city, hard hit by the recession, has found a new, low-budget way to fight crime: Park an unmanned, former Brink's truck bristling with video cameras in front of the dwellings of troublemakers. Police here call it the Armadillo. They say it has restored quiet to some formerly rowdy streets. Neighbors' calls for help have dropped sharply. About half of the truck's targets have fled the neighborhood. "The truck is meant to be obnoxious and to cause shame," says Peoria Police Chief Steven Settingsgaard. The Armadillo has helped alleviate problems like drug dealing that can make...

Most recent........

The most recent........

The most recent........

The most recent........

The most recent........

The most recent POSSUM COMIX........

HOLLOMAN AIR FORE BASE, New Mexico – The rocketeers at Armadillo Aerospace, thwarted by engine problems and other mechanical failures, left this year's X Prize Cup empty-handed after their spacecraft burst into flames on liftoff Sunday. Over the two days during a Holloman Air and Space Expo, attempts at snaring the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge's $350,000 purse with their design were fraught with technical snags. At one point on Saturday, they were within seconds of winning the money – only to have the multi-legged vehicle self-abort and tip over on landing. An attempt on Sunday to hop from launch...

A St. Louis-area man was injured Tuesday after colliding with an armadillo in the opening miles of the second stage of the Tour of Missouri. Dan Schmatz, 33, of Ballwin, was riding in the peloton at about 20 mph when he and teammate Jonathan Garcia of Boulder, Colo., met with the wayward animal. Schmatz, who lives in Longmont, Colo., was taken to a local hospital. The extent of his injuries was not known Tuesday afternoon. [ snip ]

When a food safety inspector walked into a market in Queens, he noticed the store had an interesting special posted on its front window: 12 beefy armadillos. In Brooklyn, inspectors found 15 pounds of iguana meat at a West Indian market and 200 pounds of cow lungs for sale at another market. At a West African grocery in Manhattan, the store was selling smoked rodent meat from a refrigerated display case. An inspector quickly seized a couple pounds of it. All of it was headed for the dinner table. All of it was also illegal. Authorities say the discoveries are...

The nine-banded armadillo, a species native to Mexico, crossed the border into Texas 150 years ago and has been spotted as far north as Illinois. “The northward migration of this normally warm-weather species confirms my contention that global warning is a greater threat to America than Islamic terrorism,” said former vice-president Al Gore. “We must redeploy our troops from the failed Iraqi war so we can protect our families from this domestic invasion.” Representative John Murtha (D-Penn) has promised to introduce legislation requiring the troop redeployment. “I have been saying for some time now that we’ve lost in Iraq and...

Fact of the Day Yes, Virginia, armadillos can contract leprosy Armadillos don't always lose body parts due to being victims of hit-and-run "roadkill" accidents ... Armadillos are the only mammals (other than humans) that can contract lepromatous leprosy, the most virulent form of the disease. In fact, the medical community believes that some day armadillos will help to cure leprosy. The bacteria tends to grow in cooler parts of the body (nose, feet, ears), and the low body temperature of the 'dillo proved an ideal breeding ground and resulted in a quick spread of the disease after the animal was...

Builders have found the fossil of a giant armadillo — which lived up to 2 million years ago and would have been the size of a Volkswagen Beetle — in southern Peru, an archaeologist said on Thursday. "They were carrying out work inside a private home and stumbled upon this surprise during the digging," Pedro Luna, an archaeologist from the National Institute of Culture in the southern city of Cuzco, told Reuters. The armadillo order first evolved around 50 million years ago in South America. The type found in Cusco was a glyptodon, one of the biggest ancient armadillos from...

Ice Age armadillos the size of cars, fossil shows Builders have found the fossil of a giant armadillo, which lived up to 2 million years ago and would have been the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, in southern Peru. "They were carrying out work inside a private home and stumbled upon this surprise during the digging," Pedro Luna, an archaeologist from the National Institute of Culture, said. The armadillo order first evolved around 50 million years ago in South America. The type found in Cusco was a glyptodon, one of the biggest ancient armadillos from the Ice Ages. "It was...

Two rounds, no three knockdown rule.My money is on Laura.

Motorists in Northeast Atlanta greeted the arrival of "Bob" the Armadillo this morning. This migratory member of the Dasypodidae family could be the first such visitor in the 285 perimeter's Platinum Triangle. Bob died on the road side, his head pointed north bound to Marietta. Rubber neckers and readers alike can ponder this development. An ever widdening range for this curious digger from the deep south.