{"id":704588,"date":"2026-07-22T04:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/704588\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T04:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:08:16","slug":"rare-three-banded-armadillo-baby-takes-first-steps-outdoor-at-telford-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/704588\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare three-banded armadillo baby takes first steps outdoor at Telford Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">A rare breed of armadillo has taken its first steps into the wild at a zoo in <a class=\"qNUzV q7LZa\" data-testid=\"next-link-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.itv.com\/news\/central\/topic\/telford\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Telford<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The newborn three-banded armadillo at Exotic Zoo was the first recorded birth of the species in a UK zoo in over ten years. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">It&#8217;s found in the wild in Brazil. Zookeepers have been celebrating the newborn&#8217;s birth due to the armadillo struggling to breed in captivity. <\/p>\n<p>Three-banded armadillos are best known for their ability to roll into a tight ball when threatened. Credit: Exotic Zoo<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">However, the zoo&#8217;s animal team had to step in due to its mother, Melon, deciding to reject her baby. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">During the past six weeks, keepers have been feeding the young armadillo throughout the day and night. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Now the zoo says due to this programme, the baby armadillo is &#8220;thriving&#8221; and taking its first steps outdoors. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Three-banded armadillos are best known for their ability to roll into a tight ball when threatened, and are one of the few species armadillo able to do so completely. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know&#8230;<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rare breed of armadillo has taken its first steps into the wild at a zoo in Telford.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-704588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}