Carlos Aya

I am driven by the need to reveal an almost unknown world: the subterranean universe of armadillos. These species spend much of their lives underground and yet are key to the health of ecosystems. Each of my research efforts seeks to fill critical knowledge gaps and develop medium- and long-term conservation strategies to protect them, along with the dozens of species that depend on their burrows.

My hope for the future is to use cutting-edge technologies—from remote sensors to underground monitoring systems—to explore these natural architectures more deeply and understand how they shape the landscape. My work aspires to show the world that, even beneath our feet, there are silent ecosystem engineers sustaining biodiversity, and that protecting them is protecting the very foundation of the ecosystem.

In 2014, I managed to capture a giant armadillo in the wild for the first time. To locate them, I would crawl halfway into their massive burrows, relying on smell and the faintest sounds for any sign of their presence. When I finally found my first giant armadillo, I worked alongside three members of a local community—wonderful people who shared their strength and knowledge with me—to dig for more than twelve hours into a burrow until we were able to safely contain an adult female. It was an exhausting task, a mix of mud, roots, and adrenaline, yet it was only the beginning of field work.

Then came the greater challenge: tracking her movements after implanting a radio transmitter. Giant armadillos spend most of their time underground, where the signal is lost; they travel long distances between the best-preserved forest patches and tracking them requires a truly exploratory spirit. Following them at dawn and through deep jungles taught me that science is often also resilience, intuition, and adventure.