what's the purpose of an armadillo?

so I've kind of always wondered what the purpose is of an armadillo? i mean, they are the ugliest animal I've ever seen, so clearly they're not here for beauty. what do they do besides terrify people and make them scream? i must say, even though I am absolutely terrified of them, when I see an armadillo that has been hit by a car and looks like the picture above, it just cracks me up. some time, i would like to lay next to one that looks like this and imitate it :)

today was very revealing in the fact that i actually discovered ONE purpose to an armadillo (courtesy of my fellow co-worker, ben grames). did you know that they actually make roadkill guitars out of armadillos? gross, i know. they are called charangos and it's a popular folk instrument in South America that sounds a little bit like an ukulele. the armadillo's hollowed out body is used as a resonating chamber. here are some disgusting pictures of what it looks like. i can hardly even look at the pictures. apparently the armadillos in argentina are hairy. you can bet that you'll NEVER catch me playing one of these things. for those of you who don't live in florida, be glad that you don't have to face these ugly creatures on an almost daily basis.