The giant armadillo is the largest species of armadillo in the world: it weighs 50 kg and measures 1.6 meters between the snout and the tip of the tail. He also has one of nature’s longest nails: 14 cm on his third finger, a sharp claw he uses to dig burrows.
However, life is not easy for the giant armadillo. The constant and increasing deforestation of the Cerrado, one of its main habitats, is reducing its food supply, as well as throwing it into an unexpected conflict with bee keepers.
With little choice of termites and ants to eat, the Priodonts maximus (scientific name of the animal) has been attacking and destroying beehives in Mato Grosso do Sul, in search of bee larvae to feed. The armadillo’s “vandalism” is causing damages of thousands of reais to honey producers in the state – there are reports of beekeepers who, in retaliation, killed the rare animal, an environmental crime.
However, a group of breeders from Mato Grosso do Sul is trying to resolve the conflict in search of peace and conservation. In recent months, dozens of them met with biologists and researchers to develop a guide to living with the giant armadillo. Whoever follows the recommendations earns an international certificate for the protection of the species, which can generate financial benefits when selling the honey.
About 700 beekeepers work in Mato Grosso do Sul, responsible for 21 thousand hives. Many resort to wild areas and eucalyptus plantations to install bees, places close to armadillo burrows. The hives usually stay away from the presence of humans to avoid attacks by bees – therefore, beekeepers are only aware of the action of the canasta hours and even days after the event.
In places where the native vegetation remains intact, the animal has free resources to feed itself. However, in places surrounded by roads, pastures and crops, food is scarce and armadillos attack the hives to survive, according to biologist Arnaud Desbiez, researcher and coordinator of the Giant Armadillo Conservation Program, carried out by the Institute for the Conservation of Animals. Silvestres (Icas) and by the Ecological Research Institute (IPÊ).
“Today, the armadillo’s habitat is extremely fragmented. Therefore, it is often isolated in one of these fragments, without many food options. It ends up looking for hives to eat the larvae”, explains Desbiez.
Nocturnal, the canasta quickly learns how to destroy hive boxes at night. Videos recorded by the research team coordinated by Desbiez show his persistence: he stands, hangs, pulls and pushes the boxes until he has access to the larvae, knocking over the honey and releasing the bees.
These “attacks” fostered a negative image of the canasta in the region, the “destroyer of hives”, and a conflict with honey producers. “We’ve heard reports of some beekeepers who have killed armadillos, although most breeders are interested in solving the problem in another way, because they understand that nature conservation is very important for beekeeping”, says Desbiez.
Canasta and beehives
Four years ago, beekeeper Adriano Adames, 53, suffered in his pocket with one of the giant armadillo attacks. “I had an apiary with 70 hives. One day I arrived and they were all destroyed”, says he, who has been producing and selling honey in the capital Campo Grande for 30 years. The assembly of a single hive costs around R$ 700, excluding labor and maintenance costs.
Adames says that the owner of the farm where he kept the apiary suggested a drastic solution. “He asked me: ‘Adriano, why don’t you kill this armadillo?’ I was very sad about the beehives, but I replied that I would not do that. I have heard that some beekeepers killed the animal, but I am against it, because he is not to blame,” he says.
The producer was the first of 33 beekeepers in Mato Grosso do Sul to receive the seal “Producer friend of the giant armadillo”, which assures the creators’ commitment to biodiversity and the protection of these animals. The certificate is recognized by the Wildlife Friendly, an international nature conservation organization.
The seal is part of the “Canastras e Colmeias” project, financed by the Boticário Group Foundation for Nature Protection, which brought together biologists and producers to create strategies that prevent attacks on bee farms, but also help to conserve armadillos.
One of the main guidelines in the manual is to improve the structure of the hive boxes, especially the height from the ground — if they are less than 1.3 meters from the ground, the armadillo can reach them by standing. Another tip is to place easels made of metal or wood that are more resistant to the strength of the canasta.
In some cases, the guide guides the installation of a fence or electric fence around the hive, a measure adopted by beekeeper Adriano Adames. “The fence gives a small electrical pulse that pushes the armadillo away, but doesn’t hurt it. It gets scared and leaves”, explains he, who also buys and resells honey from other producers in the state.
Adames believes that the coexistence guide and the seal of support for conservation can even help to improve the value of honey produced in Mato Grosso do Sul — he estimates that 200 beekeepers will adhere to the certificate by 2023.
“Our idea is that the honey with the seal is better paid in the market, and with sales over the internet. The producer needs to be aware of the advantage of conserving nature, because the beehives also need a healthy environment. He will also realize that the conservation can be financially beneficial”, he says.
Threat to the Cerrado
The giant armadillo is a rare species, at risk of extinction. It occupies several points in South America, from Venezuela to Argentina. In Brazil, it is present in the main biomes: Atlantic Forest, Amazon, Pantanal and Cerrado.
In the latter, where the armadillo has destroyed the hives, the situation is dramatic. According to MapBiomas, a platform that monitors land use in Brazil, 43.7% of the Cerrado has already been destroyed to make way for agriculture — in 2020 alone, the biome lost 7,300 square kilometers, up 12.3% in compared to the previous year. And the outlook for the future is not encouraging.
“Historically, the Cerrado has been treated as an adjunct to Brazilian biodiversity. But it is the second largest biome in South America. It is the richest savanna in the world”, explains Reuber Brandão, a member of the Network of Specialists in Nature Conservation (RECN ) and professor of fauna and wild areas management at the University of BrasÃlia (UnB).
“When we started to be aware of the conservation of the Cerrado, in the 1970s, a good part of it had already been destroyed. There was no concern about creating large conservation areas”, says Brandão.
According to the biologist, soy is the commodity that concentrates agricultural production in deforested areas of the Cerrado. And Mato Grosso do Sul stands out as one of the largest soybean producers in the country. According to the state government, the 2020/21 harvest reached 13.305 million tons – an increase of 17.8% compared to the previous one.
Most of the soy produced in Brazil is exported. According to the National Association of Cereal Exporters (Anec), the country exported 86.628 million tons of soybeans in 2021, an increase of 5.2% over the previous year. In soybean meal, Brazilian exports totaled 16.817 million tons in 2021, up 0.37%.
In addition to the giant armadillo drama, the destruction of the Cerrado causes a series of environmental impacts in the country, such as the reduction of water supply. Occupying the Central Plateau and extending over 25% of the national territory, the biome is the point of origin of eight of the twelve Brazilian hydrographic basins. There are many rivers that flow into other regions, such as the São Francisco, the Tocantins, the Xingu and the Araguaia.
Rarity
It’s hard to find a giant armadillo walking around. In addition to the low density, it does not usually show up during the day, when it remains inside the burrow — it digs a hole every two days, on average. Only goes out at night to eat.
According to biologist Arnaud Desbiez, the species only began to be studied in a broad and long-term way in 2010, when North American and European zoos began to fund researchers in Brazil.
“One of the main findings is that the canasta burrow is also used as a shelter by another 70 species, such as peccaries, ferrets and snakes. Some enter the burrow to have young. The giant armadillo is what we call an ‘ecosystem engineer’ , because it builds the house of other species. When it disappears, other animals disappear too”, explains Desbiez.
It is not known for sure how big the giant armadillos population is in Brazil. Collecting this data is a difficult task, due to the large extension of the territory and the difficulty of finding the animal – it takes at least four days to find a single individual in the wild, according to Desbiez.
In a 2015 study, the biologist and other researchers found 69 giant armadillo fragments in an area of ​​25 square kilometers in the Cerrado, a rate considered very low.
Reproduction of the species is also slow, which makes renewal more difficult. The armadillo’s sexual maturity begins only between seven and nine years of age — and only one calf is born per pregnancy, every three years.
“It has a very, very, very low birth rate. The death of each individual means a very big loss for the species. That’s why the giant armadillo can go extinct very quickly,” says Desbiez.
