A capture-recapture study was performed to obtain data on abundance of three armadillo species inhabiting a highly modified habitat—the Argentinean pampas—and the intrinsic factors affecting this parameter. A total of 144 live armadillos (42 Dasypus hybridus, 15 Chaetophractus villosus and 87 C. vellerosus) were caught and 49 dead animals (30 D. hybridus, 15 C. villosus and 4 C. vellerosus) were collected on four farms subjected to different degrees of land use. Armadillos were negatively affected by habitat use and hunting pressure. Densities varied between 0.07 and 0.6 armadillos per hectare, with higher densities occurring on farms farther away from urban settlements, with few domestic dogs, low hunting pressure, conservative land use, and well-preserved natural grasslands. The results suggest the existence of source-sink metapopulations.
