Dr. Ted Stankowich

South America.

Oh, how beautiful.

South America has all the armadillo diversity, yeah.

Wow, these little hairs.

He's got one here in the States.

They're sharp, aren't they?

That's cool.

I think they're maybe a little softer when they're alive.

I think they may be hard enough over time.

I think it depends on what defense you're talking about.

There are defenses that are certainly automatic and subconscious.

Other ones like things that actively aim and spray noxious things with their predators are intentional because you have to aim and be mindful of what you're doing.

Things where you attack or stab,

Porcupines, when they erect their quills and they turn and they are trying to stab you with their quills, that's certainly an intentional thing.

But I can imagine armored animals curling up in a ball.

You're just curling up in a ball, but you're not deploying the defense in any particular way.

But in the end, it doesn't matter if it's intentional or not.

If it works, it works.

We try not to anthropomorphize too much to get into the minds of the animals because selection doesn't care about whether or not they think about it.

All it cares about was how effective it was.