Giant armadillo
Priodontes maximus (Kerr, 1792)
The giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) is a mammal in the family Chlamyphoridae, order Cingulata, and subfamily Tolypeutinae. It is a large, terrestrial, nocturnal invertivore with an adult body mass of 45.4 kg and a carnivore trophic level.
Quick facts about the giant armadillo
Gestation lasts 122 days, litters have 1.5 young as a representative value, and sexual maturity comes at 320 days. The IUCN Red List lists it as Vulnerable (VU), a threatened category, and its lifespan is 14 years, with a highest reported value of 15 years.
- Weight
- 45.4 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 14 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 15 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 122 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1 – 1.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 10.5 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the giant armadillo
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the giant armadillo live?
Not recorded
What is the giant armadillo?
The giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), colloquially tatu-canastra, tatou, ocarro or tatú carreta, is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives the glyptodonts were much larger). It lives in South America, ranging throughout as far south as northern Argentina. It is considered to be a vulnerable species.
The giant armadillo prefers termites and some ants as prey, and often consumes the entire population of a termite mound. It also has been known to prey upon worms, larvae and larger creatures, such as spiders and snakes, and plants. Some giant armadillos have been reported to have eaten bees by digging into beehives.
From the Wikipedia article “Giant armadillo” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giant_armadillo&oldid=1380800291), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the giant armadillo endangered?
The giant armadillo is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.
How is the giant armadillo classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCingulata
- familyChlamyphoridae
- genusPriodontes
- SpeciesPriodontes maximus (Kerr, 1792)
Synonyms Cheloniscus gigas, Dasypus giganteus, Dasypus gigas, Dasypus maximus, Priodon gigas, Priodon maximus, Priodontes giganteus, Priodontes giganteus, Priodontes gigas, Prionodon gigas, Prionodontes gigas, Prionodos gigas
Other names and names in other languages (29)
- مدرع عملاقArabic
- pásovec velkýCzech
- KæmpebæltedyrDanish
- RiesengürteltierGerman
- CusponSpanish
- Armadillo GiganteSpanish
- Carachupa MananSpanish
- CuspónSpanish
- Gurre grandeSpanish
- Jusa truenoSpanish
- OcarreSpanish
- OcarroSpanish
- Tatú canastraSpanish
- Tatú CarretaSpanish
- isovyötiäinenFinnish
- Tatou géantFrench
- Tatú GuazúGuarani
- ÓriástatuHungarian
- オオアルマジロJapanese
- 왕아르마딜로Korean
- KjempebeltedyrNorwegian Bokmål
- ReuzengordeldierDutch
- Pancernik olbrzymiPolish
- Zębolita olbrzymiaPolish
- Tatu-CanastraPortuguese
- Гигантский броненосецRussian
- veliki pasavecSlovenian
- Dev ArmadilloTurkish
- Броненосець велетенськийUkrainian
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the giant armadillo
Other species in the same family Chlamyphoridae.
Pink fairy armadillo
Chlamyphorus truncatus
Six-banded armadillo
Euphractus sexcinctus
Pichi
Zaedyus pichiy
Big hairy armadillo
Chaetophractus villosus
Southern three-banded armadillo
Tolypeutes matacus
Brazilian three-banded armadillo
Tolypeutes tricinctus
CompareGiant armadillo vs Pink fairy armadilloGiant armadillo vs Six-banded armadilloGiant armadillo vs PichiGiant armadillo vs Big hairy armadillo
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the giant armadillo?
The giant armadillo is a mammal in the family Chlamyphoridae and order Cingulata. It is a large, terrestrial species.
How heavy is the giant armadillo?
The giant armadillo has an adult body mass of 45.4 kg, which places it in the large size class.
What does the giant armadillo eat?
The giant armadillo is an invertivore, with a carnivore trophic level.
Is the giant armadillo endangered?
The giant armadillo is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List, which is a threatened category.
How long does the giant armadillo live?
The giant armadillo has a lifespan of 14 years, and the highest value reported by our sources is 15 years.
How many young does the giant armadillo have?
The giant armadillo has 1.5 young per litter as a representative value, with a lowest reported value of 1, after a gestation of 122 days.
Is the giant armadillo nocturnal?
Yes, the giant armadillo is nocturnal.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-armadillo
“Giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-armadillo.
@misc{giant_armadillo_2026,
title = {Giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-armadillo},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}