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Crested porcupine - HYSTRIX CRESTATA
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Porcupine": "Porcupine" comes from the Latin words "porcus spina," meaning "pig spines." The animal is not closely related to a pig, however, and shares the misplaced "porcus" name with the porpoise and the aardvark.
Location: Italy, North Africa, and central western Africa.
Habitat: Dry, rocky hill country, with vegetation.
Description: On the back and the tail it has many spines which are elastic and stick straight up twelve to sixteen inches high. The snout is short and flattened and covered with soft hair, and the eyes are small and the ears short. The soles of the feet are hairless and the big toe is very small. The porcupine can grow over two feet long, with an additional five inches for its tail. It can weigh almost sixty pounds
Behavior: This porcupine is mainly nocturnal. By day it rests among rocks or in holes in the ground, and feeds on fruit, roots, and bulbs. It nibbles while holding the food between its front feet like a raccoon. When in danger the porcupine erects the spines on its back and tail and makes them vibrate with a distinctive rattling sound. It is a solitary animal.
Reproduction: Gestation lasts for about two months, and the litter has two to four young in it. At birth the young have soft spines, but by the time they are ten days old the spines have hardened and taken on the texture of those of an adult individual. The young nurse for about three months. There may be two litters in a year.
Go to the Rodents Page to learn more about all the gnawing animals.
Or go to the Porcupine Index to study other
porcupines.
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