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This is a woodlouse, and it can roll itself into a ball when it feels frightened.
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And so can these Brilliant Creatures.
They’re hairy armadillos. This pair are four and a half months old and they come from Chessington Zoo.
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You’d be hard pushed to spot the difference between them, and that’s because they’re identical twins.
In fact, all baby armadillos in a litter are born identical!
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They don’t look very tasty, do they?
But in the wild, in the deserts of south America, there are plenty of animals who do hunt and try to eat armadillos.
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Armadillos are covered with an incredible armour, made up of bony plates.
The armour looks like it’s outside of the body but it’s actually on the inside.
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There’s a bony plate across the shoulders at the front…
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…another one across the back legs…
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…and eight hinged plates across their back, which allow them to roll up into a ball when they feel threatened – just like the woodlouse can!
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The armadillos are covered in hair.
We don’t know why for sure, but there is a theory that millions of years ago the distant relative of the armadillo was just covered with hair.
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Armadillos are very good at holding their breath, too.
They can hold it for five minutes!
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But why would they want to?
Well in the wild it helps them in two ways. One of them, is to swim.
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This is a nine-banded armadillo. Unlike its hairy relative, it can’t curl itself up into a ball - but it can swim.
Armadillos love to swm. They inflate their bodies with air, hold their breath, then do the doggy paddle!
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They also use the breath-holding power when they want to dig for food.
They eat all kinds of different things – frogs, scorpions, spiders. But the trouble is, these kind of creatures often bury themselves away in the sand.
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So the armadillo can hold its breath and dig down into the sand like an electric drill, in search of food.
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The armadillo – another truly Brilliant Creature!
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