Porcupine

Its spines are up to 40 centimeters long. With them, the porcupine can defend itself perfectly against attackers. No other animal has such long spines.

Characteristics

What does a porcupine look like?

Porcupines are rodents and belong to the porcupine family. The common porcupine is the largest. Adult animals are 57 to 68, some up to 90 centimeters tall. In addition, there is the twelve to 15-centimeter long tail. Since they have relatively short legs, they only reach a height of about 25 centimeters. The females are usually slightly smaller and lighter than the males. An adult porcupine weighs up to 24 kilograms.

The porcupine’s most distinctive feature is its dense fur of spikes and spikes. The skewers are round and have a ring pattern. The spines consist of transformed hairs. Porcupines also have soft, woolly hair. The very long hair and spikes stand on the porcupine’s abdomen and point backward. Only on the head do they have no spikes, but a normal coat with only a few long, bristle-like hairs.

The spines, located on the tail, are unusually shaped: they are hollow with a funnel-shaped opening. When the porcupine shakes itself, these quills bump into each other, making a loud rattling noise. That is why these spines are also called rattle cups.

Where does the porcupine live?

Porcupines are mainly at home in Africa and Asia. Some species occur in southern Europe. The common porcupine lives in tropical West Africa along the Atlantic coast and in East Africa. Otherwise, porcupines can still be found in the Mediterranean region. However, they live there only in central and southern Italy and in Sicily. The ancestors of the porcupines living in Europe today were probably brought to Europe from Africa by the Romans.

Porcupines are not particularly picky: they like dry habitats with bushes and trees. But they also occur in densely forested terrain and in semi-deserts. They also like to stay near fields and gardens.

What types of porcupines are there?

The porcupine family includes five genera with about 20 species. In addition to the common or West African porcupine, these include the white-tailed, the African, the hairy-nosed, and the South African porcupine. There are also Asian relatives such as the Java, Nepal, or Chinese porcupine.

How old does a porcupine get?

Porcupines can get pretty old. In zoos, they reach an age of about ten to 18 years. A porcupine in England is said to have lived for 21 years. In the wild, they are believed to live between 12 and 15 years.

Behave

How does a porcupine live?

Porcupines are nocturnal animals and only wake up in the evening. To find their way in the dark, they primarily use their very well-developed senses of smell, touch, and hearing. On the other hand, they cannot see very well with their small eyes. With their dense coat of spikes, the animals feel quite safe.

That’s why they don’t bother to hide when they come out of their burrow in the evening. In fact, they are quite loud, grunting and snorting. Porcupines spend the day sleeping in their burrows. These can be underground caves but also niches in rocks.

They dig the burrow themselves or take over an abandoned one. A porcupine usually stays there for many years and expands it again and again. The largest known structures are 20 meters long and are up to two meters underground. Porcupines live together in stable pairs. Whole family groups are often formed, consisting of the parents, the older young, and the newborn porcupines. However, they are quite dismissive of foreign porcupines.

Friends and foes of the porcupine

Porcupines can really make an impression on enemies such as predators: When threatened, they raise their spikes, growl, hiss, and stamp the ground with their hind legs. They also shake their tails, making the hollow spikes rattle loudly. If the enemy still doesn’t run away, the porcupine moves sideways or backward towards him and pecks him vigorously with his quills. Sometimes the spines get stuck and cause painful wounds that can also become infected.In earlier times, humans were also among the enemies of porcupines. Their meat was considered a delicacy by the Romans, for example.

How does the porcupine reproduce?

Porcupine mating occurs in April. After 63 to 65 days, the female gives birth to one to four young. They only weigh 350 grams and already have teeth and spikes. The spines are still soft, however, so that they do not injure the mother. At about a week old, they venture out of the burrow to play. The porcupine babies are suckled by their mother for the first 60 days. Up to the age of six to seven months, the parents still help with the search for food. They become sexually mature at about one year.

How does the porcupine communicate?

Porcupines can make many different sounds that express their moods: they grunt and snort. They also growl loudly when they feel threatened.