An Unnatural History of the Armadillo
They travel together in thundering herds, and freeze in headlights like deer on the highway
Antonio Rodriquez was given super-strength by a mad doctor — at the price of looking like a ’dillo
A colossal armadillo drawn by Jim Franklin lifts up a highway strip in its mouth as though it were a ribbon, flinging cars and trucks aside
Like many Texans who reach their seventh decade, I find myself thinking a lot about the armadillos in my life. Many a time I have been with a ’dillo at its demise — or, to be precise, a short period after its demise, swerving in my car to avoid its remains after it was hit by a truck or car and smeared across a highway in the Lone Star state. I have been close to ’dillos in their prime — for example, during the G-8 Economic Summit in 1990, held in a Houston arena where, not far from President George H. W. Bush and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and their peers, I sat and watched the armadillo race that was held in honor of the global leaders. And while I have not been present at the birth of armadillos, I have known and cared for their young. When I was in junior high school during the 1970s, to earn a Boy Scout merit badge I did some work at Austin’s Natural Science Center, which combined museum exhibits with a small zoo. Among the animals I looked after were four young …
