Ask Juan Carlos

Juan Carlos Morales

This is a photo of Dr. Morales at work. He is collecting a blood sample from a 7 banded armadillo in Argentina's Mendoza Province.

E-mail your questions about genetics to Juan Carlos Morales by clicking on his name.

Jaun Carlos is a research scientist at the Center for Environmetal Research and Conservation at Columbia University (CERC).

Question: "Where did the name armadillo come from?"

Dr. Morales:
I need to find the origin of the name "armadillo" for the small hard shell animals that you study. Would you please give him some assistance with an answer or resource reference?
Thank you, Adam

Answer:

Dear Adam:
The word armadillo comes from the Spanish, and means something like "little armor" referring to the armorlike covering of these animals. This "armor" is actually a modification of the skin that provides a double- layered cover of horn and bone over most of the upper surface and sides. This "armor" is divided into several different plates or bands connected by soft skin, giving the animal some flexibility. Surprisingly, when these animals are attacked they run or burrow rapidly into the ground. Only as a last resort they draw in their feet on the ground so the edge of the armor contact the ground, or they roll into a ball. There are actually 20 different species of armadillos, and they only occur in the western hemisphere (north and south America). You can learn more about armadillos in a book called "Walker's Mammals of the World" written by Ronald M. Nowak. It has some pictures of several armadillo species. By the way, in North America there is one species (the nine-banded armadillo) which the Aztecs used to call "Azotochtli" which means the "tortoise rabbit".

Question:

I am a science teacher in Jackson, TN and we are currently studying a unit on genetics. Today we began our study with Gregor Mendel and his experiment with the pea plants.

Had one interesting question from one curious 6th grader. He asked is a pea plant male or female since they have both stamen and pistol and produce both sperm and egg?

Answer:

Good question! A pea plant, as many other plants (and some animals) possess both sexes. We called these monoecious plants. Plants that have the sexes in different individuals are called dioecious plants. Notice that we can not really call each individual plant female or male.

"Monoecious" means "same house" from the fact that each individual houses both sexes. "Dioecious" means "two houses" from the fact that the sexes "live" in different houses. I guess we humans could be called "dioecious."