Texas's state animals, armadillos, are making North Carolina their home

"I got the phone call in 2008 about a credible observation of an armadillo in a county in western North Carolina, and it has increased tremendously since that phone call. You know, armadillos are well-established in Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama. So it's just, we were proximate to an established population, and as those armadillo populations increased in those states, the surplus started wandering into our state."

"These armored animals are slowly laying claim to the Tar Heel State. Our next guest says, in a decade or so, they may live in all of the state's 100 counties. Colleen Olfenbuttel is the Game Mammals and Surveys unit supervisor with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission."

Armadillos, traditionally associated with Texas, are establishing themselves in North Carolina at an accelerating rate. The first credible observation in the state occurred in 2008 in western North Carolina, and sightings have increased significantly since then. These animals migrated naturally on their own from well-established populations in neighboring states including Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama. Wildlife biologist Colleen Olfenbuttel predicts that within approximately a decade, armadillos may inhabit all of North Carolina's 100 counties. The environmental impact of this expansion on the state remains unclear and requires further study.

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