Climate Change: Armadillos Migrate to North Carolina for Warmer Weather

Armadillos have been observed moving to North Carolina in search of warmer weather due to climate change.

Armadillos are uncommon in North Carolina; they are typically found in Central and South America as well as the South West of the United States. However, experts claim that their habitat range is expanding.

Armadillos in North Carolina

There have been reports of armadillos in the state over the past 15 years. The public's assistance is needed by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission to monitor the population growth of these unusual mammals.

Armadillos are native to Central and South America, and the southeastern United States has become part of their range over time.

In North Carolina, armadillos were first spotted by Colleen Olfenbuttel, an NCWRC biologist, in 2007 in Macon County. The first few years were relatively slow. However, based on what we witnessed in other states, they were aware that armadillos would arrive, and the creatures unquestionably did. According to Olfenbuttel, there are currently close to 900 observations across 70 North Carolina counties.

Spillover and Warmer Weather

Olfenbuttel does not believe that humans brought the new population across state lines because, among other things, they are difficult to catch. The expansion of the territory can be attributed to several different factors.

She emphasized that one of the armadillos' defense mechanisms is their incredible speed when running.

Instead, there are more plausible explanations for why they are increasingly encroaching on the territory of North Carolina and other Southern states.

According to Olfenbuttel, one reason is that as armadillo populations grew and increased throughout the other states, a spillover into North Carolina was inevitable. The fact that North Carolina experiences milder winters is an additional factor.

According to WCNC Charlotte, armadillos prefer warmer weather because it allows them to travel farther north than ever before. Colder weather is bad for armadillos.

Armadillos do not have thick insulation and should dig for the majority of their food, according to the NCWRC. Mild winter temperatures are ideal for them because the extreme cold can cause the animals to starve or freeze to death. Armadillos are moving further north as North Carolina experiences shorter periods of below-freezing weather.

Nine-Banded Armadillo

Out of the 20 species, only the Nine-Banded Armadillo is known to inhabit Southeast US.

The Nine-banded Armadillo, a native of Central and South America, was first discovered in Texas in 1849, but since then, mainly due to natural dispersal from neighboring states, its range has expanded north and east. Armadillos crossed the Mississippi River in the early 1940s, showed up in western Tennessee in 1980, and reached North Carolina in the late 2000s, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

Although the species is native to Central and South American tropical rainforests, it has evolved to live in a variety of habitats, including pine forests, scrubland, grasslands, deciduous forests, and salt marshes. Parks, golf courses, and cemeteries can also serve as appropriate habitats.

However, there are reliable reports of sightings of armadillos from the state's far western region through the coasts. Western North Carolina is by far the region where armadillos have been found most frequently, WBTV reports.