• Davel23@fedia.io
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    4 months ago

    I got to pet an armadillo once at a grade school assembly. It was neat, really warm and leathery.

    • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      Can confirm! Held one recently at this crazy place that had all sorts of animals for huggin’. We don’t have ‘roos here but you bet my ass was huggin a ‘roo. What the fuck is a binturong? Fuckin adorable, and huggable. Consider it hugged. Porcupine?

      …well, that one I just pet. Didn’t realize you can just pet them. And they’re like 4x bigger than I expected from movies. V v sweet tho. I also only pet the capybaras. They didn’t look like they wanted to be hugged. Too chill for hugs.

      • Davel23@fedia.io
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        4 months ago

        Now that I think about it, there was also a porcupine at the event with the armadillo. As long as you pet in the direction the quills lay, you’re fine. Pet the other way… well, I didn’t try it but I don’t think the outcome would be very comfortable.

        • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 months ago

          Absolutely! I also learned that they can’t shoot/fling their quills out, which I thought they could do for most of my life!

    • toynbee@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      One must assume that domestic armadillos are less risky, but I would hesitate to pet an armadillo as I’ve heard they commonly carry leprosy.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        4 months ago

        Leprosy famously has a very low R0 value. Low enough that it’s really surprising that it was ever considered an epidemic.