Brazilian 3-banded armadillo benefits from community conservation in Bahia

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• The Brazilian three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes tricinctus), endemic to the semiarid dry forests of northeastern Brazil, is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and threatened by habitat loss and hunting.

• A new initiative to study the Brazilian three-banded armadillo has begun in the Chapada Diamantina region in the state of Bahia, aiming to estimate the species’ population trends through long-term monitoring and citizen science in the village of Sumidouro.

• Conservationists are beginning to see encouraging results that point to the recovery of the armadillo population thanks to effective community-based conservation — a strategy that could prove helpful at larger scales.

Under the searing rays of the afternoon sun, Rodolfo Assis Magalhães and his team silently scour the fields that border the forest. Their target, the charismatic Brazilian three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes tricinctus), won’t be easy to catch. The trick is throwing a T-shirt over the animal before it can escape through a sharp jungle of cacti, serrated shrubs and thorn-tipped trees that make any pursuit impossible, says Magalhães, a doctoral student at the Federal University of Minas Gerais.

The chase is part of a new project in the village of Sumidouro in northeastern Brazil that aims to understand trends in the armadillo population using long-term monitoring and to promote conservation through citizen science. Despite a complicated past with the species, the community has come to embrace the armadillo’s protection, providing vital support to the project.

Brazilian 3-banded armadillo benefits from community conservation in Bahia