The Asiatic brush-tailed porcupine (''Atherurus macrourus'') is a species of
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...
in the family
Hystricidae. It is found in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
,
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, and
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.
Taxonomy
The synonyms of this species are ''Atherurus assamensis'' (Thomas, 1921), and ''Atherurus macrourus'' (Thomas, 1921) subspecies ''assamensis''.
Habitat
It is a nocturnal and fossorial species, occurring in subtropical and tropical montane forests. It is found on the forest floor, often in areas with profuse undergrowth interspersed with cane and bamboo brakes and palms.
Breeding
It constructs burrows, which may be occupied by up to three animals. The female produces one or two litters a year, of a single young, after a gestation period of 100 to 110 days.
[Andrew T. Smith: ''Asiatic Brush-Tailed Porcupine.'' In: Andrew T. Smith, Yan Xie: ''A Guide to the Mammals of China.'' Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2008, , S. 274.]
Conservation
Known to be one of the rarest porcupines in South Asia,
the species is protected under Schedule II of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, though not listed in CITES. It has been recorded from
Namdapha National Park
Namdapha National Park is a large protected area in Arunachal Pradesh of Northeast India. The park was established in 1983. With more than 1,000 floral and about 1,400 faunal species, it is a biodiversity hotspot in the Eastern Himalayas. The ...
in
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...
, India (Molur et al. 2005). It is present in a number of protected areas in Southeast Asia.
Behavior
In one study using camera traps, it was found that the porcupine typically hunts at night, with a single activity peak during the three-hour period before midnight. To avoid predators on nights when the moon is full, foraging activity is limited to dawn and dusk.
References
*Woods, C. A. and C. W. Kilpatrick. (2005). Hystricognathi. Pp 1538–1600 ''in'' Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference 3rd ed. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.
Atherurus
Rodents of India
Mammals described in 1758
Rodents of China
Rodents of Laos
Rodents of Malaysia
Rodents of Myanmar
Rodents of Thailand
Rodents of Vietnam
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
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