Doedicurus Facts

Doedicurus Profile

Armadillos are a funny lot. Aside from being a lot smellier than you’d imagine, they’re also quite fast. In South America, they’re also hunted rather effectively by following them into burrows. 

But this wasn’t always the case. The fossil record shows us that in the same location as the 4oz pink fairy armadillo, there once lived a close relative that was more like an armoured car. In the same family as modern armadillo species, an extinct, 2-ton behemoth once patrolled the swamps. 

Doedicurus Facts Overview

Doedicurus was about the size of a Mini Cooper and could weigh significantly more. They likely spent much of their time in water, and judging from the teeth could gnaw on some very rough roughage. 

There is only one species identified so far, but this was one of many similar huge armadillos that shared the twilight of their lives with modern humans. Doedicurus lasted longer than most, but like pretty much all of the Pleistocene megafauna, went extinct several thousand years ago.

Interesting Doedicurus Facts

1. They’re giant Xenarthans

We’ve mentioned before that there’s a surprising taxonomic link between sloths and anteaters, and this group also contains some of the armadillo species as well. Despite looking remarkably different, they share an ancient lineage and are categorised under the superorder Xenartha. 

Admittedly, this isn’t a very close relationship, which may explain why they’re not really that into one another and look nothing alike, but one thing they do have in common is that there are giants among each of them.

The anteaters have the giant anteater, still alive today. The sloths, though now closer to five kilograms, had five-ton relatives, not all that long ago, called [Megatherium]. 

The armadillos – again, now associated with rather small, armoured rat-like animals – also have their boss-level contender: the Doedicurus. ¹

2. They were (probably not) the only member of their genus

Doedicurus was but one genus of many giant armadillos in the subfamily known as glyptodonts. These lumbering beasts occupied South America for millions of years and all are now extinct. 

Doedicurus clavicaudatus is just one species in the Doedicurus genus, and it’s the only one we’ve got so far. 

It bears repeating that the fossil record as a concept is somewhat misrepresented by museums that put up not only their most complete skeletons but also replicas based on much smaller bone fragments. 

Commonly, the exhibit itself has had more augmentation than an Instagram model and is often pieced together as much from an archaeologist’s imagination than from real fossilised bones. 

The reality is, that the vast majority of animals were never fossilised, and those that were may have only been partially so. Add to this that fossils get damaged or moved over geological periods (such as by glaciation events) and you end up with a lot of missing pieces. 

So, while clavicaudatus is the only known Doedicurus species, it’s currently thought to be one of a genus of enormous armadillos, and hopefully, other species will present themselves in the rocks over time. ²

3. They outlasted many of the Pleistocene megafauna

Of all the Glyptodont genera, Doedicurus likely lasted the longest. 

Doedicurus fossils are still a contentious topic, and dating them has brought varying estimates as to how recently they survived. 

The most recent estimate – and the one with the most pushback – is that these huge tanks roamed South America as little as 4300 years ago. If this turns out to be false, there are a lot more reliable estimates from other fossils suggesting that they were definitely present around 7000 or 8000 years ago.

This is much later than the majority of the large Pleistocene mammals, the majority of which went extinct around 13,000 to 10,000 years ago. 

This may have made it the last surviving Glyphodont. And their longevity might have had something to do with their impressive weaponry and enormous size.

4. They had crazy armour

Not only were these mammals the largest of the Glyptodont species, but they also had thick, scale-like protection from predators. They were covered very well in bony plates called scutes, which are similar to those found in crocodiles and the feet of birds and resembles a tortoise shell. 

This armour evolved long before human spears existed, let alone migrated to the continent, and this suggests a terrifying predatory pressure from something very dangerous. 

At the time of their evolution, the known apex predator in the region was the Terror Bird, which more than lived up to its name. These were flightless bids, three meters tall and capable of running quickly. At the front end, they sported an enormous, curved and powerful beak. 

So, it was probably a great idea to go out with protection, and perhaps this helped the Doedicurus hold its own against human hunters for a while. 

But armour isn’t all they were packing. ³

5. They had terrifying spiked clubs

Like many glyphodonts, Doedicurus carried with it an active defence. While the head was plated with thick bone, the other end had even more than this. The tip of the tail was clubbed, and covered in spines. 

Like the iconic Cretaceous dinosaur Ankylosaurus – another animal that outlasted most of its peers – this armadillo would have been able to kill anything it could swing its tail into, and despite being a slow creature, would have given any predator second thoughts. 

This spiked club was no joke. It likely weighed around 60kg and could possibly have been swung at speeds of up to 40 km/h. ^{4 5}

6. They may have had a trunk

The shape of the front of the skull has inspired speculation as to whether Doedicurus had a bit of a nose hanging off it. 

There are enormous nasal cavities and there is potential for attachment points for a fleshy, elongated snout that would never have been preserved in the fossil records. 

However, these creatures lived alongside humans towards the end of their lives, and as such, there may be some record of how they looked that we could reference. 

At least one prehistoric wall of art from Colombia depicts a very convincing Doedicurus drawing, showing a car-sized, club-tailed animal with what appears to be armour plates, shielding its young in a standoff against much smaller human figures. 

There is no mythical trunk in this drawing, but there is evidence that perhaps humans finally found a way to get past the armour, or were able to kill and eat the juvenile Doeodicurus. Once that skill has been established, any animal’s days are numbered. ⁶

Doedicurus Fact-File Summary

Scientific Classification

1. “Study Finds Relationship Between Glyptodonts, Modern Armadillos”, American History National Museum.
2. “Doedicurus DNA Solves Glyptodont Puzzle”, Everything Dinosaur.
3. David D., “GLYPTODONTS IN ARIZONA A SAGA OF SUPERCONTINENTS, SEA-FLOOR SPREADING, SAVANNAS, AND SABERTOOTH CATS”, Arizona Geology.
4. R. McNEILL ALEXANDER (1999), “Tail blow energy and carapace fractures in a large glyptodont (Mammalia, Xenarthra)”, Oxford Academic.
5. R. McNEILL ALEXANDER (1999), “Tail blow energy and carapace fractures in a large glyptodont (Mammalia, Xenarthra)”, Sci Hub.
6. Nathan Hartshorne, “Art as a Record of Our Natural History”, muchellejuditheart.