Tennessee’s armadillo record is strongest where the observers are, and then some. Davidson and Shelby counties, Nashville and Memphis, lead with 65 and 59 reports, but middle Tennessee generally dominates: Rutherford, Williamson, Franklin, and Coffee counties all run high. Radnor Lake, a natural area inside Nashville, is the single most reported site with 17 records.
Seventy-six of the state’s 95 counties have at least one report, spanning all three grand divisions, though the eastern mountains hold the thinnest tallies. Cold snaps and high ground don’t suit an animal with little insulation and no hibernation, and the Appalachians remain its Tennessee frontier.
Reports climb from April to a broad summer plateau and stay high through October. That long warm-season window is when armadillos roam and dig and, too often, meet cars; a meaningful share of the record comes from animals spotted on roads.
