Reply #78: It arrived in South Texas in 1880 [View All]

[Ichingcarpenter]

The armadillo in particular has been moving northward since it arrived in Texas in the 1880s and Florida in the 1920s, according to Colleen McDonough, a biology professor at Valdosta State University in Georgia.



Some, however, is clearly triggered by a changing climate. Armadillos have settled into southern Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Missouri - all areas that were "totally unexpected," McDonough said.

They're not the only ones. White-footed mice and southern flying squirrels have expanded their range northward some 140 miles in Michigan, according to University of Michigan biology professor Philip Myers, who described the migration in a recent paper as "an unusually clear example of change that is likely to be the result of climatic warming."


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=armadillo-moves-north-across-warmer-north-america