Zoo 'Ambassadors'

choi

Clare Ansberry, Zoos Seek Affection for Overlooked Species; 'Ambassadors' are popular, but not all draw crowds. Wall Street Journal, Mar 20, 2018 (front page)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/its ... -a-sloth-1522335330
http://www.paywallnews.com/life/ ... cies.BJfAZFc9z.html

Note:
(a) "Willy, a Southern three-banded armadillo * * * sniffing and eating crickets and worms at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. * * * Willy lives at the aviary with fellow armadillo ambassador, Wonka [later on, Wonka was referred to as a 'he']. Among their charms: the ability to roll up completely into a ball the size of a cantaloupe-- something the other 20 armadillo species can't. * * * Ms [Robin] Snider, of Pittsburgh, loves armadillos but has only seen dead ones [read (a)(ii)(A) for their distribution (www.oxforddictionaries.com says this word is always a mass noun, meaning uncountable], which is why she jumped at the opportunity to spend time with a lively one."
(i) Willy Wonka
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Wonka
(ii)
(A) armadillo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillo
(New World placental mammals; The word armadillo means "little armoured one" in Spanish)

Quote: "most [armadillos] escape predators by fleeing (often into thorny patches, from which their armour protects them) or digging to safety. Only the South American three-banded armadillos (Tolypeutes [genus name]) rely heavily on their armour for protection. When threatened by a predator, Tolypeutes species frequently roll up into a ball. Other armadillo species cannot roll up because they have too many plates.

(B) armadillo
1: English (etymology: borrowed from Spanish armadillo)
2: Spanish (etymology: from armado armored +‎ -illo diminutive, ie little armored one): "armadillo"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/armadillo

Its plural form is armadillos in both Spanish and English (www.meriam-webster.com amd www.oxforddictionaries.com).  (Wiktionary says its plural form in ENGLISH can be either armadillos or armadilloes, but I find no support for the latter spelling.
(C) To understand why a three-banded armadillo is three-banded, check images.google.com. When it is in the process of balling itself up, the three-banded is particularly apparent.
(iii) National Aviary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Aviary
(now private)

(b)
(i) sloth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth
(ii) sloth (n)
https://www.etymonline.com/word/sloth

(c) "tawny frogmouth birds * * * Commonly mistaken for owls, the tawny frogmouth has a big mouth and assumes a stick-like posture when threatened."
(i) tawny frogmouth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawny_frogmouth
(a species of frogmouth)
(ii) tawny (adj and n; etymology)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tawny

(d) "Encounters with red pandas are sold out at the Houston Zoo, but are available with the zoo's naked mole rat, which has large buck teeth."
(i) red panda
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_panda
(ii) naked mole-rat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole-rat
(map; visual acuity is poor; "is the only mammalian * * * [that is] cold-blooded")

(e) "He [John Santore] learned that the reason they sit on the floor is because the Southern three-banded armadillo has poor eyesight and might run off a table."

Search images.google.com with (armadillo sitting).