Scary zoo babies: armadillos

Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Zoo

Baby animals at the Zoo! You can usually count us in, but this alien-like armadillo babe has us a little skirmish. Either way, the new addition to the Minnesota Zoo is a rare event in the world of captive creatures.

This is the zoo's first birth of a three-banded armadillo infant and reportedly the third born in a United States zoo this year. The baby was born Feb. 19.

Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Zoo

The zoo has yet to determine the sex of the armadillo, but zoo keepers believe it is a male. The newborn has been staying close to his mother in an area out of public view. He will likely make his public debut this summer, zoo officials say. By then, he hopefully won't look like a naked dead piglet wearing a shell.

The new addition weighs about 4.6 ounces. Infants are about the size of a golf ball when they are born and have the ability to close their shells and walk within hours of birth. Their eyes open in about three to four weeks.

Armadillos are found in Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. As adults they are about 12 inches long and weigh about three pounds.