Screaming Hairy Armadillo

The animal was first described by J. E. Gray in 1865 from a specimen in the British Museum collected from Santa Cruz de la Sierra in eastern Bolivia as Dasypus vellerosus. Two subspecies are currently recognized (C. v. vellerosus (Gray, 1865) and C. v. pannosus (Gardner, 2007)) although the taxonomic validity of the split has been called into question.

The screaming hairy armadillo is a burrowing armadillo of arid areas from low to high altitudes. It is found in parts of the Gran Chaco and Pampas areas of Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. An isolated population is found in eastern Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, temperate grassland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, hot deserts, temperate desert, arable land, pastureland, and plantations. It is absent in rocky areas where the armadillo would not be able to burrow. The average annual rainfall in its main range is , while the rainfall averages annually in the area of the Buenos Aires population.

The armadillo is nocturnal by summer and diurnal in winter. It can subsist for long periods without water. It often burrows at the base of bushes and shrubs. It has multiple burrows in its range, and each burrow may have more than one entrance. When an animal is occupying a burrow, the entrance is usually sealed. A burrow may be in diameter and may be several metres long. The home range of an armadillo is recorded to consist of a minimum area of . The animal does not build a nest in its burrow.

]] The gestation period of the armadillo is 60–75 days. The armadillos become sexually mature at 9 months and produce two litters per year.

This armadillo is heavily hunted for its meat in parts of the Chaco region in Bolivia. It is at times considered an agricultural pest and killed by hunting dogs. The disjunct population of coastal Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, is adversely affected by mining activities. The carapace is particularly sought for making charangos, a South American musical instrument akin to a lute.