Crested porcupine
The crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata) is a large porcupine of Africa and Italy. In Africa it ranges from Senegal to Ethiopia, and south to Kenya and Tanzania.[1] It is also found along the Mediterranean coast of Africa, and in Italy and Sicily.[2][3]
Description
Like other Hystrix porcupines, it is one of the largest African rodents.[1] Quills along its head, nape and back can be raised into a crest. Stouter, banded quills on its sides and back are used for defence, and hollow quills at the end of its short tail make a rattling sound.[3] Each forefoot has four clawed toes.[1][3] The short spines on its rump are black, which tells it apart from the Cape porcupine, whose rump spines are white.[1]
Habitat and behaviour
It lives in many kinds of country, from savanna to mountains, and in the Atlas Mountains it reaches about 3,500 m.[2] It shelters in caves, rock crevices, aardvark holes or burrows it digs itself.[1][3] Porcupines feed on roots, tubers and fallen fruit, and they gnaw bones.[1]
Breeding
Females usually have one litter a year, of one or two young, which are born well developed.[3]
History
The crested porcupines of Italy are not native. A genetic study found that they most probably came from North Africa, perhaps from Tunisia, and that they were probably brought over more than once. The study suggested Roman times as a likely period, and found no evidence of porcupines in Italy before the late Roman Empire. In the last hundred years they have spread into northern and central Italy.[2] The oldest known Hystrix fossil, from Kenya, is about 7.4 million years old.[1]
Status
The crested porcupine is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Monadjem, Ara; Taylor, Peter J.; Denys, Christiane; Cotterill, Fenton P. D. (2015). Rodents of Sub-Saharan Africa: A Biogeographic and Taxonomic Synthesis. De Gruyter. Section: Hystricidae. ISBN 9783110389234.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Trucchi, Emiliano; Sbordoni, Valerio (2009). "Unveiling an ancient biological invasion: molecular analysis of an old European alien, the crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata)". BMC Evolutionary Biology. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-9-109. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 McPhee, M. (2003). "Hystrix cristata". Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
- ↑ Amori, G.; De Smet, K. (2016). "Hystrix cristata". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T10746A22232484.en. Retrieved 2 November 2026.