Fossil of giant Ice Age armadillo found in Peru

LIMA, Peru - Builders have found the fossil of a giant armadillo -- which lived up to 2 million years ago and would have been the size of a Volkswagen Beetle -- in southern Peru, an archeologist said on Thursday.

"They were carrying out work inside a private home and stumbled upon this surprise during the digging," Pedro Luna, an archeologist from the National Institute of Culture in the southern city of Cuzco, told Reuters.

The armadillo order first evolved around 50 million years ago in South America. The type found in Cusco was a glyptodon, one of the biggest ancient armadillos from the Ice Ages.

"It was an animal that appeared 2 million years before Christ and would have died out 10,000 to 15,000 years BC because of a freeze," Luna said.

He said the fossil was "almost complete" and was 2m long including the tail, 1.10m wide and with an average height of 0.95m.

He said the animal would have been the size of "a Volkswagen".

Luna said it was the fifth such fossil found since 1998 in Cusco, proving that there was a large lake and valley in the area with lush vegetation. Armadillos are herbivores.

The glyptodon -- which means "carved tooth" -- had short legs with clawed toes, a dome-shaped bony shell composed of plates measuring 1cm to 7cm thick, rings of bony armour on its tail and armor on its head.

- REUTERS