Armadillo relative was one-tonne living tank

Tank-like armour-plated beasts that roamed South America thousands of years ago were exactly what they looked like — giant armadillos, research has confirmed.

Glyptodonts included one species, Doedicurus, which was the size of a VW Beetle car, weighed around a tonne, and was armed with fearsome spiked tail resembling a medieval mace.

Informally, they had been dubbed “giant armadillos”, but only now have scientists established that they really were ancient cousins of the creatures.