Armadillos were
traced back to about 14000 years ago, based on a fossil of a Doedicurus that was retrieved from a
Argentine museum. the fossil uncovered that it was in-fact an ancestor to the
common day Armadillo and not to what was once thought to be a per-historic
animal called a Glyptodonts.
The
shell contained enough mitochondrial cells to complete a DNA reconstruct, that
close of a modern day Armadillo. unlike the modern day Armadillos who can role
up in a ball for protection, the Doedicrus or old school Armadillos didn't do
such thing. They heavily relied on their big size, their hard shell and their
club shaped tale for protection.
This
is incredibly fascinating. The ability to trace back a creature to nearly 14000
years ago is nothing shy of amazing. This could unlock even more gene decoding
to find out more about the evaluation of man, and where we came from.
This article shows how some species are able to stall major changes withing their evolution in a way, instead of huge differences over time, as we have seen in various types of homo sapiens. Additionally, it raises the question of how the evolution of their behavior came to be. I wonder if the ability to roll in a ball is a behavior that they attempted and were unsuccessful at until their bodies went through evolutionary changes, or if after many changes from their prehistoric form, we able to discover their flexibility to do such a thing.
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