Nine-banded armadillos are beginning to pop up more frequently in central Illinois, and if current climate trends hold, experts say it's likely those sightings will become more common.
That could pose a significant problem for Illinois agriculture, said Anant Deshwal, a conservation biologist and assistant professor at Bradley University. His lab studies how climate change is impacting wildlife over time, including a survey of armadillo migration patterns in the state.
It's well-documented that the Illinois climate is getting warmer and wetter over time. Armadillos have lived in southern Illinois for years, but they're now beginning to move up into central Illinois.
"The armadillos are actually benefiting a lot from milder winters. It gives them more time to move up further north. They can tolerate those conditions. They do not hibernate," Deshwal said.
An armadillo was found in Pekin in 2016. It's likely that was the first of many to come.
"They're tenacious. They can jump quite high. They can dig and burrow. They can walk underwater in a river. I've seen them happily walking around with snow on the ground," said Deshwal.
Armadillos are prolific diggers. In farm fields, that can mean significant soil damage. Home foundations also can be affected by the holes they dig.
"They forage or find food by digging holes. And they also breed by digging holes, and they sleep in those and they escape winter in those holes. Now the size, width and depth of these holes vary. Some of them are small, like 2.5 inches, but some of them can be big," he said.
Deshwal's current research is seeking to quantify the potential impact armadillos could have on central Illinois crop yields in the future.
He said his team has attempted to brainstorm potential solutions to curtail the northward spread of the animal's range, but ultimately, he said the best solution is mitigating climate change in general.
"The more we do that, that alone will keep armadillos at bay because then the environmental conditions, the nature, will work with us. It will do all the work for us, for keeping the armadillos outside Illinois. And that's what we want," he said. "We want the nature to do all that work for us. If the climate change continues, then we are basically helping them come in."
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources asks the public to report armadillo sightings north of the Springfield area, including in Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford counties.
