Not everyone likes them, but I love them. They burrow and can dig up yards which doesn’t earn them much love, and there’s the fear of leprosy (which is very low unless you willingly come in contact with a dead one). Still they’re the rare critter that’ll eat fire ants, scorpions, and wasps, and outside of any calculus of cost/benefit analysis, they’re really fascinating. When the N. American and S. American landmasses finally were joined, they were among the weird animals that made the long trip up from S. America (along with hummingbirds, opossums, and porcupines) in the Great American Interchange.
I’ve spotted them a few times in the wild, usually when they were emerging from a burrow to scurry off somewhere, and always felt lucky to get to see one. Always feel sad to see them on the road.
