Deodicurus was the largest armoured Glyptodont mammal of all time.
Physiology[]
This animal was 4 metres long, 1.5 metres tall, and bore a tailclub that weighed as much as a large cannonball. Doedicurus, like other glyptodonts, had a huge domed carapace and looked in the distance for all the world like a giant tortoise. The carapace was made up of many tightly fitting scutes, like that of an armadillo, and would have been flexible around the edges. Doedicurus had a long tail of solid bone, with huge spikes on the end. Doedicurus' tail was a formidable weapon, and dented carapaces suggest that they used them against each other - possibly in fights between males. Other than that little is
known about their behaviour.
In Walking With Beasts[]
In the episode of Walking With Beasts which focussed on Smilodon, Doedicurus appeared. It was presented as nearly invincible when adult, but Phorusrhacos was shown attacking its young.
History[]
Many skeletons of glyptodonts are known from South America and southern North America, including those of Doedicurus - especially in the Esenada formation in Argentina. They inhabited woodlands which which not so dense, and iconic South American pampas (grasslands) This genus was herbivorous and browsed and grazed any vegetation it could, possibly digging for roots and tubers as well. They lived 2 million - 15,000 years ago. Doedicurus was a glyptodont, related to both living armadillos and the sloths. They did very well in South America long after disappearing everywhere else. When North America joined they continued to thrive but eventually succumbed with the rest of the megafauna. Legends suggest that they may still have been alive when humans first arrived in South America, but these may have been based purely on their impressive remains. Their closest living relatives are the armadillos (and also sloths and anteaters).
fact
* In the prologue, the first episode featured the movement doedicurus group (3 adults and one baby), but this is not a 5 episode. Perhaps the scene was removed for unknown reasons.