What is more Texas than an armadillo? Well, maybe . . the lone star, the yellow rose, boots, jalapeno peppers, mesquite trees but . . armadillos are pretty much a part of Texas too. I think they’re pretty much detested by everyone who has had to deal with them. My grandma’s house was up off the ground just a bit and armadillos would get up under there at night and bump around and scare me half to death when I was a kid. But, you know . . it never takes much to scare me. In MO, I had some tearing up my yard and ended up . . well, that’s a story that probably shouldn’t be shared on the blog. No, I didn’t shoot them and no, the police tried to shoot them with pepper spray (which I doubt would have really solved my armadillo problem but kept me from getting arrested since I lived in town and couldn’t shoot a gun in town) but they scampered into the woods and have now probably had dozens of offspring and are digging up all the yards in the neighborhood.
Anyway . . why would a school choose the lowly armadillo as their mascot? Beats me!
San Saba Armadillos
San Saba . . they have the armadillo as their mascot. They’re proud too! There’s some kind of huge metal art armadillo in front of the school, many of the businesses have armadillo “art” in their windows.
I guess I’ve heard of worse but it makes me proud to have been a Westlake Ram! 🙂
Sharon in Michigan says
You didn’t make armadillo stew, did you?
Donna Williams says
Armadillos creep me out. We have them here in Arkansas too. Bleh. We are on the road quite a bit and go through one town that the Sand Lizard as its mascot. Really? A Sand Lizard? We just shake our heads and laugh.
Bonnie in Va says
Hey, armadillos are interesting little creatures. I’ve got a ridiculously large info on them as I used them to start research skills with 2nd graders. Jan Brett has the wonderful Armadillo Rodeo book. The most interesting fact is they are the only known host for leprosy. I may interpret that wrong, heavens knows I am not a science person, but I think they are used for research. And, I’ve read they are slowly moving north. I figure they will hit central Virginia in 2050 or so. I may miss them then as I doubt I’ll be around still! They really are interesting little guys. And, I’ll stop there as you really don’t want to know all that much about them do you? LOL>
Howdy says
I love armadillos – always have. There was a very interesting article in Nat Geo many many years ago that detailed their leprosy disease and I learned that most of those poor road kill creatures don’t usually get run over… their ‘fright response’ is to jump about 3 feet in the air. So when a big truck passes over them – they jump and end up killing themselves by hitting the underside of the truck… there was a great picture in that article showing one of them about 3 feet in the air after being startled.
In the mid 90’s on one of my trips home to TX I was looking all over for a cement armadillo – I could find a bunch of small ones but I wanted one that was more life size. My sister ended up finding me a life size one and “Jake” has lived in my garden in MA and PA ever since. He does have a case of lichen growing on him… maybe a cement version of leprosy… Ha!
kaholly says
I love armadillos, too. They also conjur up a lot of childhood memories. I think their mascot is cute!
Linda in NE says
Our Nebraska winters pretty much keep the armadillos at bay. Might be one of the few good things about them. Still, we fight coons and antlered rats (deer) and rabbits and grasshoppers for our garden produce and fruit trees. As for the school having the armadillo as their mascot, think about it…..there are so many things that aren’t allowed because of that crazy political correctness that the lowly armadillo is least likely to cause issues. Our school used to be the Orioles and the neighboring school was the Cardinals. Since merging they are the Cyclones. It’s not easy to come up with a team name that isn’t already taken or isn’t a social no-no.
Sherrill says
Armadillos are OK but then I’ve never had one tearing up my yard or causing other kinds of problems. And an armadillo for a mascot–COOL! They have ARMOR! (and I was a PC Pirate! LOL).
Diana in RR, TX says
Here’s one for you Judy-Hutto the town next to us-mascot Hutto Hippos. Of course there is also the Taylor Ducks. One of friends daughters coached the Hutto Hippo Cheerleading squad. Said it more than she could take! You can also buy a concrete Hippo for your yard. The story goes in the early 1900’s a circus train derailed in Hutto. Several days or weeks later, they found one of the Hippos lounging in Brushy Creek. Hence the Hutto Hippos!
Deb K says
Hutto Hippos? Oh, that’s sad. Well, there is the Maryland Terrapins. Seems a bit defeating especially if you are a runner. I think Texas Christian’s horned frog leaves room for improvement, also.
Vivian Oaks says
After reading all the comments, I’m glad my school mascot was the lowly ram as well. Better than a lot of those mentioned! 🙂
Vicky says
I guess the Sulphur Golden Tornadoes wasn’t so bad after all! Gail blasted two armadillo over Christmas that were digging under the foundation of their house.
Michelle says
I think I’d rather have armadillos than nutria (tear up the yard) and possums and skunks (eat my chickens and eggs) But that’s probably because I don’t have armadillos and whatever you don’t have in your own yard sounds cuter than what you’ve got!
Paula L says
My grandfather called them “Damadillos!!
Lynn Mc says
My sister lives in Orlando, Florida, and when we visited her we saw the tail end of a creature disappearing over the road. My sister said it would have been an armadillo which lived somewhere over the road. We didn’t get to see it properly, so kept an eye out for it while we were there. The kids saw it several times and came to get us, but it had always gone by the time we went out. The new creatures were a treat for us New Zealanders. The Alligators in the ditches around the Kennedy Space Centre we were happy to see out of a car window- and no closer.