It lives from sea level to altitudes of up to 1,300 meters across the southern portion of South America, and can be found in grasslands, forests, and savannahs, and has even started claiming agricultural areas as its home.

Though this animal is routinely harvested for its meat and its shell, or simply killed by farmers, it has shown resiliency, and populations seem to be handling this exploitation well.

This species of armadillo is a preferred research animal due to its adaptability to laboratory settings, and relative hardiness in situations of stress.

Long, coarse hairs also project from the bony plates, making this armadillo much hairier than other related species.

The skulls follow the same patterns as other dasypodids, but females exhibit longer bones in the rostrocaudal plane, which is one of the key characteristics that shows the sexual dimorphism of these species.

The lesser hairy armadillo can usually be found in higher altitudes because its smaller size and slower metabolic rate helps it survive in areas with less food.

The outer and inner parts are made of thin, compact bone, while the middle zone is thicker and contains tissues for hair follicles and sweat glands.

The presence of red bone marrow is rare in members of Chaetophractus, but widespread in Dasypus novemcinctus osteoderms.

These findings propose an early split of both subfamilies and maintain the hypothesis that the Euphractinae are more derived than the Dasypodinae.

Fossil records then indicate the migration into Patagonia as the main dispersal route, which most likely occurred after the Pleistocenic glaciations.

[11] The C. villosus home range encompasses a contigous area spanning large swathes of Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay.

[3] In Argentina its natural range extends beyond the Pampas as far south as Santa Cruz Province in southern Patagonia.

[3] Members of Chlamyphoridae, including C. villosus, have evolved very interesting and specific traits to help them survive.

During its waking hours, it remains hidden beneath a skin receptacle, until it becomes erect and it projects outside in a rostral direction.

[13] Chaetophractus villosus spends most of its time burrowing in the ground and looking for insects or worms as its main foraging method.

[4] C. villosus is rated as a least concern species, due to its large population and widespread habitat range.