The Gulf Coast leads Mississippi’s armadillo record. Jackson County alone has 99 reports, with Harrison and Hancock carrying most of the rest of the coastal weight. Head inland and the tallies thin, though Adams County, home of Natchez, shows with 30 records that the species is well established up the Mississippi too.
Sixty-six of 82 counties have at least one report, so the coastal tilt is partly a matter of who is looking: the coast and the reservoir counties simply have more people outdoors year-round.
The calendar crests in April and May and never fully empties, fitting an animal that stays active through Mississippi’s mild winters. Protected ground from Holly Springs National Forest in the north to Gulf Islands National Seashore on the coast all holds records. The species has long since stopped being a coastal curiosity and become a statewide resident.
