Wild Side: Jolene, the three-banded armadillo, visits from Tanganyika
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Tanganyika Wildlife Park Director Matt Fouts brought in Jolene, a southern three-banded armadillo, to KSN’s Wild Side Wednesday afternoon.
He says they are from all over South and Central America.
“What’s cool about them, I mean, they have the three bands back here; you can kind of see those,” said Fouts. “But what’s really cool is that they can roll completely up into a ball.”
Southern three-banded armadillos are smaller than nine-banded armadillos, which are seen in North America.
“Like the North American ones that we see, they’ll kind of fold, but they can’t get completely into a ball like Jolene here,” said Fouts.
Jolene and the other southern three-banded armadillos can be seen with the sloths at Tanganyika.
“If you’re peaking in the windows, they’ll be down on the ground a lot of times,” said Fouts.
But they may be hard to see.
“They do like to burrow. You can kind of see these little claws in the front. Those are so they can burrow. So they do like to burrow down into the wood shavings and wood chips that are in those pens, so sometimes they’re hard to see, but that’s where they live at the park,” said Fouts.
Tanganyika Wildlife Park is hosting its annual fundraiser, Twilight Tour 2024 – Party With A Purpose, from 5 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, for those 21 and up. The event is being held to support the preservation of the critically endangered African Black-footed penguin and raise funds for the nonprofit Tanganyika Wildlife Foundation. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.
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