Armadillo follows father's footsteps

Nine-month-old armadillo Dillon, whose dad appeared in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is now the main attraction of an Edinburgh Zoo display called Animal Antics.

In JK Rowling’s spellbinding story, armadillo bile is a key ingredient for making wit-sharpening potion, a potent concoction that makes its drinker wittier, funnier and cleverer. To make the potion, students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry must crush scarab beetles into powder, thinly slice some ginger roots and put both into cauldron with armadillo bile, simmering for approximately half an hour. Jay Gunn, senior animal presenter at Edinburgh Zoo, said: "Armadillos are the only mammals with shells."