"Opossum on the Half Shell"

 The past 3 weeks or so when I have taken Bella for an evening walk out in the West pasture up here on the ridge, she has found an armadillo that seems to have taken up residence in a series of abandoned groundhog dens over by the former milk barn.

In this pic he has retreated from her to a place of relative security between two large tires on a truck that has been parked out there for a few years.  Groundhogs have excavated a den under there.  I've no clue why Gary has that mall there.  I need to snag it and bring it back to the house.


Bella is by breed a herding dog, so it is in little danger of being killed or injured by her.  It is rather funny because when she comes across it out in the field she will freeze, duck her head, and creep toward it.  Armadillos have poor vision and are always preoccupied with foraging so you can usually get quite close to them, especially if they are in the weeds.  So sometimes Bella will hover over it for a few seconds before it notices her.  It will freeze for a bit then do one of a couple things: run or jump.  Once it made a long leap straight into her face and then ran away.  She follows it of course, through the weeds.  Usually it will head for the above truck wheels.  Once it got between the tires where there is just a shallow hole.  It left its rear and tail sticking out.  Bella would woof and grab at it, but she'd never hang on to the tail.  Then she'd go to the other side of the tires and make it back up, so she'd run to the other side again to try and see it face to face, upon which it would turn tail again, grunt at her and violently kick dirt in her face.  Ellen and I stood watching this spectacle for ten minutes or so laughing at Bella's dirt covered face.  But then we leashed her up and came home. 

Last night I happened to have her on the leash headed back to the house when we came upon the armadillo.  I was able to get a few pictures and videos of them interacting.


It took awhile for it to notice us, we had to get quite close.  It made a rush or 2 to get away, but as soon as it realized we weren't going to give chase, it just went right back to foraging, even coming back close to us.  

They are nothing but pests, serving no real purpose here in Missouri, plus they can carry leprosy.  But they are fascinating little creatures.  



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