Leprosidic Armadillos

This post is dedicated to Mehend, who spent the entire day today BORED TO TEARS by the great state of Kansas. She commented that she saw 2 armadillo road pizzas, which reminded me about how these guys at a camp I worked at convinced some of us girls that we had to be careful to stay away from the armadillos because they carry leprosy.

So I googled it, and I found a Biology professor Joshua Nixon's Armadillos Online! webpage that I'm going to quote, because it's wonderfully informative.
Plus, his FAQ page made me laugh.

Highlights:

4. Do armadillos carry diseases, such as leprosy?

Wild armadillos have been known to be infected with the bacterium that causes leprosy (Hansen’s disease). The only cases of transmission from armadillos to humans have occurred in rare incidents in which people ate undercooked armadillo meat.

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5. Do people really eat armadillos?

Yes. In many areas of Central and South America, armadillo meat is often used as part of an average diet. I have heard that some peoples of South America keep small varieties of armadillos as edible housepets. During the Depression, armadillos were often eaten by hungry people. They were called “Hoover hogs” by people angry with then-President Herbert Hoover’s broken promise of a chicken in every pot. The meat is said to taste like fine-grained, high-quality pork.

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11. Where can I buy an armadillo (Live or dead, for food or otherwise)?

I know of no company or restaurant that sells live armadillos. I have heard that some shops in San Francisco’s Chinatown sell dead armadillos for food.


So there you have it, folks.
Armadillos.