A tireless regular reader of this blog who will remain nameless has emailed me a link to the Oxford Reference Online's Fact of the Day which was headlined "How is the nine-banded armadillo able to traverse water?" The answer to the question is that it self-inflates, and holds its breath:

The nine-banded armadillo, unlike the other species, is able to traverse water by inflating its stomach and intestine with air for buoyancy. Since it can hold its breath for several minutes, it can cross smaller streams underwater.

For centuries, armadillos have been exploited by humans for their meat, and they continue to be a favored food item in many areas of Latin America. In North America people partake of armadillo meat less frequently; however, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, destitute southern sharecroppers came to rely on armadillos for food, and the animals were nicknamed "Hoover hogs," a wry allusion to US President Herbert Hoover.

I suppose that today it might be called a "Bush hog." ("Bush meat" is taken; it refers to African game animals, which are expensive delicacies.) But by today's standards, that wouldn't do, because its status in America is listed as "threatened" -- despite the fact that its range is increasing:

In the United States, the sole resident armadillo is the Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), which is most common in the central southernmost states, particularly Texas. Their range is as far east as Florida and as far north as Kansas, and while cold winters have slowed the expansion of their range (due to a lack of sufficient body fat), they have been consistently expanding their range over the last century due to a lack of natural predators and have been found as far as western Kentucky, and are expected to eventually reach Ohio before the cold winters inhibit their expansion.

I'm thinking that "threatened" is probably code language for having Bush as president. (The category can be flexibly "upgraded" in the event of "change," to demonstrate that we've made "progress.")

But meanwhile, it's Bush's fault no matter what.