Gestation periods of twenty months in armadillos / ?

ABSTRACT

The gestation period of wild armadillos in United States is believed to be 8 months, including a 3 1/2 month interval of embryonic diapause. Four animals captured in november of 1979, presumably 3 to 4 months after ovulation, proced young an average of 16 months later, indicating a gestation period of nearly 20 months. One of these animals bore 2 litters, 5 1/2 months and 17 months after capture respectively. None of these females had contact with males during captivity. The results suggest that embryonic diapause was prolonged for a year by stress of confinement, or that sperm survived for a year in the reproductive organs of the females