Armadillos have arrived in downstate Illinois and are heading north ... (ongoing climate change) [View all]

[Norton Nork]

From the Chicago Tribune
Armadillos have arrived in downstate Illinois and are heading north — yes, you might someday see an armadillo in your backyard
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-armadillos-arrive-illinois-20220504-hhzv7szssbfotkegaxb442xu2m-story.html

Every now and then the Illinois Department of Natural Resources puts out a public request for sightings of armadillos, anywhere in the state: Folks, if you see something, say something. And periodically, yes, they do get a handful of reports of armadillos, scattered here and there. But when they asked again in February, they received more than 400 reports in 24 hours, from across the state, though (mostly) southern counties. Illinois, you’re seeing armadillos beneath your sheds. You’re seeing armadillos in your gardens. You’re even seeing them waddling across your lawns in the dying light of winter afternoons. You’re seeing them on warm summer nights and, increasingly, on cooler spring days.

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Or as many Illinois residents in the southern half of the state have concluded: That’s also climate change in action, in real time — a known resident of the South pushing north, into a warmer Midwest.

Wendling soon heard from nearby farmers who said armadillos were tearing into their fields ...

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Also hurting existing wildlife such as deer (by encroachment on food supplies). Worth reading the whole thing.