BBC Wildlife Magazine

Q&A

We solve your wildlife mysteries.

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More amazing facts at discoverwildlife.com

ZOOLOGY

Are any animals bulletproof?

Yes. Armadillo ‘armour’ – composed of bony plates known as osteoderms – has been seen to deflect bullets. In one incident, a Texan man was hit in the face when his own bullet bounced back from an armadillo that he tried to shoot. In another, a bullet ricocheting off an armadillo penetrated a house, injuring an elderly lady.

Accounts from early colonial times describe bullets glancing off the hides of saltwater crocodiles or being lodged in their robust skulls without penetrating the brain. The semi-bulletproof nature of crocodiles and other large animals,

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