FIFA approved the World Soccer Cup 2014 mascot, a ball armadillo.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

FIFA approved the World Soccer Cup 2014 mascot, a ball armadillo.

Armadillo three bands (Tolypeutes tricinctus), also known as Tatu-Bola, which was chosen as the mascot of the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014. Photo published by the Brazilian NGO Caatinga.

The World Soccer Cup-2014 mascot will be a ball armadillo, endangered species selected by the efforts of an NGO that defends the Brazilian semiarid ecosystem and seeks to serve the Cup to protect this animal can become a ball, and his habitat.

 "The armadillo is a critically endangered species, such as the semi-arid, and we found that we had to take the World Cup to get the attention necessary to protect our precious environment," he told AFP Association responsible for the Caatinga, Rodrigo Castro.'s small NGO, which has 14 years dedicated to the conservation of the Caatinga (semi-arid areas with the greatest biodiversity of planet, which occupies much of the north and northeast of the country), he thought for months how to convince FIFA to involve environmental giant sporting event, until the idea of ​​animal: an armadillo who becomes ball. "the armadillo ball is the only species of armadillo 100% Brazilian, fully capable of being wound into a ball when threatened. 

When we proposed, no one knew how to object, "he explains. When threatened, the small 50-centimeter bug that feeds on ants and fruit is collected on itself, sealing the shell equipped with three moving parts or belts that allow you to bend and protect (these is named 'tricinctus' ), and looks really a ball. In other parts of southwestern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and northern Argentina there is another armadillo ball, with that capacity and in the same family. In the past decimated by hunting in search of his flesh, his biggest threats today are deforestation, urban growth and agricultural expansion. "They're running wild," said Castro. 

Registered FIFA on Tuesday in Europe to design the mascot of the football World Cup Brazil 2014: a smiling, wide-eyed athlete armadillo, which will carry the colors of the Brazilian flag: green, yellow and blue, and competing for the honors with the macaw, jaguar and 'Saci-Pererê' (a character from Brazilian folklore.) FIFA reported that the pet shall affix all products Cup in the next two years in a large program of Brazilian television audience on Sunday, after which it will open a public competition on internet to choose the name.

Diaro El Comercio