Old World porcupine
Encyclopedia
The Old World porcupines, or Hystricidae, are large terrestrial rodent
s, distinguished by the spiny
covering from which they take their name. They range over the south of Europe
, most of Africa
, India
, and the Maritime Southeast Asia
as far east as Borneo
. Although both the Old World and New World porcupine
families belong to the Hystricognathi
branch of the vast order
Rodentia, they are quite different and are not closely related.
The various species are typically herbivorous
, eating fruit, roots, and bulbs. Some species also gnaw on dry bones, perhaps as a source of calcium. Like other rodents, they have powerful gnawing incisor
s, and no canine teeth. Their dental formula
is
One or two (or, rarely, three) young are born after a gestation
period of between 90 and 112 days, depending on the species. Females typically give birth only once a year, in a grass-lined underground chamber within a burrow
system. The young are born more or less fully developed, and the spines, which are initially soft, harden within a few hours of birth. Although they begin to take solid food within two weeks, they are not fully weaned
until 13 to 19 weeks after birth. The young remain with the colony until they reach sexual maturity at around two years of age, and share the burrow system with their parents and siblings from other litters. Males, in particular, help defend the colony from intruders, although both sexes are aggressive towards unrelated porcupines.
These rodents are also characterized by the imperfectly rooted cheek-teeth, imperfect clavicle
s or collar-bones, cleft upper lip, rudimentary first front-toes, smooth soles, six teats arranged on the side of the body, and many cranial characters.
is often considerably larger than the brain-case
, and a short tail, tipped with numerous slender-stalked open quills, which make a loud rattling noise whenever the animal moves.
The Crested Porcupine
(Hystrix cristata) is a typical representative of the Old World porcupines, and occurs throughout the south of Europe and North and West Africa. It is replaced in South Africa by the Cape Porcupine
, H. africaeaustralis, and in India
by the Malayan Porcupine
(H.brachyura).
Besides these large crested species, there are several smaller species without crests in north-east India, and the Malay region from Nepal to Borneo.
The genus Atherurus includes the brush-tailed porcupines which are much smaller animals, with long tails tipped with bundles of flattened spines. One species is found in the Malay region and one in Central and West Africa. The latter species, the African Brush-tailed Porcupine
(Atherurus africanus), is often hunted for its meat
.
Trichys, the last genus, contains one species, the Long-tailed Porcupine
(Trichys fasciculata) of Borneo. This species is externally very similar to Atherurus, but differing from the members of that genus in many cranial characteristics.
Fossil
species are also known from Africa and Eurasia, with one of the oldest being Sivacanthion from the Miocene
of Pakistan
. However, it was probably not a direct ancestor of modern porcupines.
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s, distinguished by the spiny
Spine (zoology)
A spine is a hard, thorny or needle-like structure which occurs on various animals. Animals such as porcupines and sea urchins grow spines as a self-defense mechanism. Spines are often formed of keratin...
covering from which they take their name. They range over the south of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, most of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and the Maritime Southeast Asia
Maritime Southeast Asia
Maritime Southeast Asia refers to the maritime region of Southeast Asia as opposed to mainland Southeast Asia and includes the modern countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, East Timor and Singapore....
as far east as Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
. Although both the Old World and New World porcupine
New World porcupine
The New World porcupines, or Erethizontidae, are large arboreal rodents, distinguished by the spiny covering from which they take their name. They inhabit forests and wooded regions across North America, and into northern South America...
families belong to the Hystricognathi
Hystricognathi
Hystricognathi is an infraorder of rodents. Hystricognaths are distinguished from other rodents by the bone structure of their skulls. The masseter medialis passes partially through the infraorbital foramen and connects to the bone on the opposite side...
branch of the vast order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Rodentia, they are quite different and are not closely related.
Characteristics
Old World porcupines are stout, heavily-built animals, with blunt rounded heads, fleshy mobile snouts, and coats of thick cylindrical or flattened spines, which form the whole covering of their body, and are not intermingled with ordinary hairs. The habits of most species are strictly terrestrial. They vary in size from the relatively small Brush-tailed Porcupines with body lengths of 37 centimetre, and a weight of 1.5 kilogram, to the much larger Crested Porcupines, which are 60 centimetre long, discounting the tail, and weigh from 13 kilogram.The various species are typically herbivorous
Herbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
, eating fruit, roots, and bulbs. Some species also gnaw on dry bones, perhaps as a source of calcium. Like other rodents, they have powerful gnawing incisor
Incisor
Incisors are the first kind of tooth in heterodont mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and mandible below.-Function:...
s, and no canine teeth. Their dental formula
Dentition
Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age...
is
One or two (or, rarely, three) young are born after a gestation
Gestation
Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
period of between 90 and 112 days, depending on the species. Females typically give birth only once a year, in a grass-lined underground chamber within a burrow
Burrow
A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite popular among the...
system. The young are born more or less fully developed, and the spines, which are initially soft, harden within a few hours of birth. Although they begin to take solid food within two weeks, they are not fully weaned
Weaning
Weaning is the process of gradually introducing a mammal infant, either human or animal, to what will be its adult diet and withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk.The process takes place only in mammals, as only mammals produce milk...
until 13 to 19 weeks after birth. The young remain with the colony until they reach sexual maturity at around two years of age, and share the burrow system with their parents and siblings from other litters. Males, in particular, help defend the colony from intruders, although both sexes are aggressive towards unrelated porcupines.
These rodents are also characterized by the imperfectly rooted cheek-teeth, imperfect clavicle
Clavicle
In human anatomy, the clavicle or collar bone is a long bone of short length that serves as a strut between the scapula and the sternum. It is the only long bone in body that lies horizontally...
s or collar-bones, cleft upper lip, rudimentary first front-toes, smooth soles, six teats arranged on the side of the body, and many cranial characters.
Species
Of the three genera, Hystrix is characterized by an inflated skull, in which the nasal cavityNasal cavity
The nasal cavity is a large air filled space above and behind the nose in the middle of the face.- Function :The nasal cavity conditions the air to be received by the other areas of the respiratory tract...
is often considerably larger than the brain-case
Skull
The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...
, and a short tail, tipped with numerous slender-stalked open quills, which make a loud rattling noise whenever the animal moves.
The Crested Porcupine
Crested Porcupine
The crested porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family.It is extant in mainland Italy, Sicily, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.-Physical Attributes:...
(Hystrix cristata) is a typical representative of the Old World porcupines, and occurs throughout the south of Europe and North and West Africa. It is replaced in South Africa by the Cape Porcupine
Cape Porcupine
The Cape Porcupine or South African Porcupine, Hystrix africaeaustralis, is a species of Old World porcupine. Contrary to its name, this porcupine species inhabits much of Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding the southwestern deserts of the continent. This rodent is nocturnal and inhabits rocky outcrops...
, H. africaeaustralis, and in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
by the Malayan Porcupine
Malayan Porcupine
The Malayan Porcupine or Himalayan Porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae. Three subspecies are extant in South and South-east Asia.-Geographical distribution:...
(H.brachyura).
Besides these large crested species, there are several smaller species without crests in north-east India, and the Malay region from Nepal to Borneo.
African Brush-tailed Porcupine
The African Brush-Tailed Porcupine is a species of rat-like Old World porcupine called "brush-tailed porcupines". The brush-tailed porcupines live in forests, usually at high elevations. They are nocturnal and during the day they sleep in caves and burrows...
(Atherurus africanus), is often hunted for its meat
Bushmeat
Bushmeat initially referred to the hunting of wild animals in West and Central Africa and is a calque from the French viande de brousse. Today the term is commonly used for meat of terrestrial wild animals, killed for subsistence or commercial purposes throughout the humid tropics of the Americas,...
.
Trichys, the last genus, contains one species, the Long-tailed Porcupine
Long-tailed Porcupine
The Long-tailed Porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Trichys. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia.-References:...
(Trichys fasciculata) of Borneo. This species is externally very similar to Atherurus, but differing from the members of that genus in many cranial characteristics.
Fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
species are also known from Africa and Eurasia, with one of the oldest being Sivacanthion from the Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. However, it was probably not a direct ancestor of modern porcupines.
Species list
The following is a complete list of extant species and fossil genera (McKenna and Bell, 1997):- Family Hystricidae
- HystrixHystrixHystrix is a genus of porcupine that contains what are the best known and most distinctive of the Old World porcupines.-Species:*Genus Hystrix**Subgenus Thecurus***Hystrix crassispinis - Thick-spined Porcupine...
- Subgenus AcanthionAcanthionAcanthion is a subgenus of Old World porcupines. This subgenus contains the smaller Hystrix species with comparatively smaller nasals. The extant species have only one black ring or coloured part on the quills..-Included taxa:...
- Malayan PorcupineMalayan PorcupineThe Malayan Porcupine or Himalayan Porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae. Three subspecies are extant in South and South-east Asia.-Geographical distribution:...
(Hystrix brachyura) - Sunda PorcupineSunda PorcupineThe Sunda Porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family. It is endemic to Indonesia....
(Hystrix javanica)
- Malayan Porcupine
- Subgenus Hystrix
- Cape PorcupineCape PorcupineThe Cape Porcupine or South African Porcupine, Hystrix africaeaustralis, is a species of Old World porcupine. Contrary to its name, this porcupine species inhabits much of Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding the southwestern deserts of the continent. This rodent is nocturnal and inhabits rocky outcrops...
(Hystrix africaeaustralis) - Crested PorcupineCrested PorcupineThe crested porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family.It is extant in mainland Italy, Sicily, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.-Physical Attributes:...
(Hystrix cristata) - Indian PorcupineIndian PorcupineThe Indian Crested Porcupine , or Indian Porcupine, is a member of the Old World porcupines. It is quite an adaptable rodent, found throughout southern Asia and the Middle East. It is tolerant of several different habitats: mountains, tropical and subtropical grasslands, scrublands, and forests...
(Hystrix indica)
- Cape Porcupine
- Subgenus Thecurus
- Thick-spined PorcupineThick-spined PorcupineThe Thick-spined Porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia....
(Hystrix crassispinis) - Indonesian PorcupineIndonesian PorcupineThe Philippine Porcupine , or the Indonesian Porcupine or the Palawan Porcupine, is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family...
(Hystrix pumila) - Sumatran PorcupineSumatran PorcupineThe Sumatran Porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family. It is endemic to the Indonesian island of Sumatra....
(Hystrix sumatrae)
- Thick-spined Porcupine
- Subgenus Acanthion
- †Miohystrix
- †Xenohystrix
- †Sivacanthion
- Atherurus
- African Brush-tailed PorcupineAfrican Brush-tailed PorcupineThe African Brush-Tailed Porcupine is a species of rat-like Old World porcupine called "brush-tailed porcupines". The brush-tailed porcupines live in forests, usually at high elevations. They are nocturnal and during the day they sleep in caves and burrows...
(Atherurus africanus) - Asiatic Brush-tailed PorcupineAsiatic Brush-tailed PorcupineThe Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine, Atherurus macrourus, is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family.It is found in China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam....
(Atherurus macrourus)
- African Brush-tailed Porcupine
- Trichys
- Long-tailed PorcupineLong-tailed PorcupineThe Long-tailed Porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Trichys. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia.-References:...
(Trichys fasciculata)
- Long-tailed Porcupine
- Hystrix