rhamphotheca:Devil’s claw looms over World Cup’s armadillo mascotby Andy CoghlanThey may be the cute
rhamphotheca:Devil’s claw looms over World Cup’s armadillo mascotby Andy CoghlanThey may be the cutest World Cup mascots ever. But three-banded armadillos (Tolypeutes tricinctus) from Caatinga in north-east Brazil are being crowded out of their habitat by an invasive weed. The armadillo was today described as “vulnerable” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which has updated its Red List of endangered species.The rubbervine weed (Cryptostegia madagascariensis), also known as devil’s claw, was originally imported from Madagascar as an ornamental plant. It has swept through the armadillo’s shrub-land home, killing native trees and smothering vast areas. Control of the weeds is doubly difficult because it rapidly forms dense thickets of vegetation, and exudes toxic sap.The IUCN says the armadillo has declined by more than a third over the past 10 to 15 years, because its shrub-land habitat has shrunk by 50 per cent…(read more: New Scientist)photo: Mark Payne-Gill/naturepl.com -- source link