Fairy armadillo

[frogmarch]

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pink-fairy-armadillo?fbclid=IwAR2XwW5O8M-zGhp1y8VTqDW8K-0Nq_STuiP6gt0-80T25BoBTEHAOQhzGLc

snip:

IN THE ARID DESERT OF Argentina’s Mendoza Province, Mariella Superina waits patiently for a fantastic creature to emerge from its lair beneath the sands. Her quarry, the pink fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus), looks like it could have scurried straight out of the illuminated pages of a medieval bestiary. The animal’s shell, paws, and tail are a vibrant bubblegum pink that contrasts with its silky, milk-white fur and black eyes. About the size of a hamster—a mere six inches from head to tail and weighing just a quarter of a pound—it’s the smallest of all armadillo species. It’s found only in Argentina, in a broad swathe of sunbaked scrubland that stretches from the foothills of the Andes to the coastal province of Buenos Aires. And that is about all we know of these wondrous animals. “They are a total enigma… We don’t even know if they are common or rare,” says Superina.

At first glance, I thought it was some weird kind of giant caterpillar.

[Irish_Dem]

1. She is gorgeous.