104 
FINDING NATURE’S TREASURES 
“Let’s feed this one.” 
“Well, he might eat a grasshopper or a beetle.” 
The children raced off to catch one. Marylee brought 
back a big grasshopper. The baby armadillo was afraid 
at first and would not eat. When Marylee held it close 
to his nose, it must have smelt good to him. He opened 
his mouth and took it. After he swallowed it, he put his 
front feet on Marylee’s hand and smelled around as if 
he were trying to find another one. 
“Uncle Jack, he is so nice. May we keep him?” begged 
Marylee. “We can take him home and feed him all the 
time.” 
“It will not be easy to catch insects for him every 
day,” said Uncle Jack. 
“Won’t he eat fresh meat?” 
“You will have to teach him to eat it. I once trained 
one to eat fresh meat. I mixed the meat with earth¬ 
worms. He liked earthworms as much as you like candy. 
Each time I fed him I put in fewer earthworms with the 
meat, but he always ate both. Then I tried some meat 
with just a very little earthworm. He soon found that 
the meat itself was good.” 
“I’ll dig the earthworms, and we’ll soon have him 
eating meat,” said Buddy. 
“Armadillo is too long a name for him,” said Marylee. 
“Let’s call him Arma.” 
“That will be a good name,” Uncle Jack said as they 
started to the car with the new pet. 
