TheBanyanTree: Nine Banded Mystery

[dale.m.parish at gmail.com]

Cindy doesn't usually fabricate illogicals as part of a joke, so when she told
me that there were three dead baby armadillos in a row just north of the
house, I took her at her word.  

Not exactly in a row, but about five meters apart, on a line running almost
due east-west, about 10 meters north of the house.  Cause of death: Unknown.

I'm not very practiced in armadillo autopsy, and they had been there long
enough to be covered with ants and flies, so I took a pass.  I got the
distinct feeling that she was disappointed, since she kept asking me what I
thought killed them.  "I don't know.  Apoptosis?"  

But we both know that armadillos are born as quadruplets of the same sex--
many times we have seen a mama armadillo leading her tiny quads through the
yard on a foraging expedition, digging holes in the yard looking for critters
for supper.  What would have killed only three of them?  Did one die of other
causes prior to the demise of these three?  Was one faster than the other
three siblings and get away?  What would have, could have, killed three of
them in a row like this and would not have eaten them.  They didn't appear to
have any trauma-- crushed shells or skulls.  Something that could have
physically killed them would surely have left marks of some kind.  

The thought occurs that they could have gotten into something poisonous that
did them in as they tried to get back home?  A couple of problems with that.
None of them were pointed in the same direction.  The neighbors to the west
are all city folks, who have "lawns" and do not tolerate any critters in their
yards.  There is no cover for nor tolerance of burrows, nests, or holes in
those yards.  I wouldn't think even baby armadillos would be seeking to run
across the road onto those places where there is no cover for them.

If they were fleeing to the east, there's nothing of which I'm aware that
would be poisonous between their point of demise and that road that offers no
cover.  Strange.  

If we see a lone baby in the next few months, we may try to place it in this
quadruplet set, but I suspect the mystery will remain unsolved.  

Dale
--
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