An armadillo of South American savannas that digs its own burrows with strong claws.
Its head is pointed and flattened, covered by large plates; flexible bands run across the back.
Six-banded armadillos explore the area around burrow entrances while moving in and out. In an Argentine forest, they sniffed nearby entrances, dug soil and made mounds of sand. Several animals also explored in close proximity without fighting.
A 2019 report described a 12-minute event filmed in Mburucuyá National Park on the evening of 22 November 2014. Five armadillos appeared around five burrow entrances. One animal was visible inside an entrance and subsequently emerged from another. Others dug at several entrances, piling sand around them. Three animals exploring close together showed neither direct affiliative contact nor aggression. Another armadillo approached from the forest, investigated several entrances and sniffed one of the animals for four seconds before returning to the forest. The entrances served as places for exploring both the surroundings and other armadillos, as well as routes into shelter.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Vehicle collisions are a documented cause of death for six-banded armadillos. Road surveys in Brazil’s northeastern Seridó region from September 2013 to December 2017 found 30 carcasses of this species. The 2023 paper analysed collision hotspots and proposed measures for the three most affected species, including this armadillo: warning signs combined with speed-reducing devices, under-road tunnels and fences to guide animals towards safer crossings. These are recommendations for locating mitigation using observed collision patterns.