Armadillo Burrow Commensalism

Nine-banded Armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) were introduced to Florida and have expanded their range northward. They arrived on LSSI in 1987 through natural dispersal and they quickly populated the island. We identified a need on LSSI, and more broadly across coastal Georgia, to understand how armadillos impact the native ecology of the region. We recently partnered with a UGA MS student to study the commensal biodiversity of armadillo burrows. Essentially, this means that we documented the native wildlife species that use the armadillos’ burrows for foraging and sheltering.

Interestingly, armadillos are the only fossorial (burrowing) mammal on the island, so the burrows they create are a unique microhabitat. Our research partner found over 50 species of wildlife using the burrows, and some species used the armadillo burrows more often than the armadillos! Additionally, we investigated the role of armadillos as predators of Loggerhead Sea Turtles and American Oystercatchers and found that the effects of armadillos are negligible relative to the effects of native predators (raccoons). We still have more to learn about armadillos' roles in the native ecology of this region, but our partners’ preliminary work illuminates some positive results of armadillo presence on LSSI.