When we first placed Shelley, the Glyptodon, in front of the Science Library in the lobby of Exley in February 2018, we planned to add the skeleton and carapace of her extant (alive today) cousin, a nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus Linnaeus 1758). We finally succeeded: Shelley now has the company of her much smaller relative.
To celebrate the event, we made the nine-banded armadillo our Specimen of the Month.
Of course, our armadillo-with-carapace could not fit into the display case in the science library, so we placed an avatar there.
For its 1 April 2023 post, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute posted these cute pictures under the headline: ‘Glyptodon Pups Born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo‘. Look at that family likeness..