The Cape porcupine (''Hystrix africaeaustralis''), Cape crested porcupine or South African porcupine, is a species of

Old World porcupine The Old World porcupines, or Hystricidae, are large terrestrial rodents, distinguished by the spiny covering from which they take their name. They range over the south of Europe and the Levant, most of Africa, India, and Southeast Asia as far ea ...

native to central and southern Africa.

Description

left, 180px, head Cape porcupines are the second largest rodents in Africa and also the world's second largest porcupines. Cape porcupines are amongst the largest living rodents in the world; a few other rodents appear to be larger in body mass such as the capybara and the

Eurasian Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Ja ...

and

North American beaver The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and introduced in South America ( Patagonia) and Europe (primarily Finland ...

s.Barthelmess, E. L. (2006). ''Hystrix africaeaustralis''. Mammalian Species, 1-7. They are similar in appearance to, and only slightly smaller than, their close relatives, the

crested porcupine The crested porcupine (''Hystrix cristata''), also known as the African crested porcupine, is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae native to Italy, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Characteristics The adult crested porcupine h ...

s, and can most easily be distinguished from them by the presence of a band of short white spines along the midline of the rump.

Indian porcupine The Indian crested porcupine (''Hystrix indica'') is a hystricomorph rodent species native to southern Asia and the Middle East. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It belongs to the Old World porcupine family, Hystricidae. De ...

s are almost the same size on average as well, being slightly heavier on average than crested porcupine but slightly lighter than Cape porcupines. Cape porcupines measure long from the head to the base of the tail, with the tail adding a further . They weigh from , with exceptionally large specimens weighing up to ;Burnie, D.; Wilson, D. E. (eds.), Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife. ''DK Adult'' (2005), Wildcliff Nature Reserve
males and females are not significantly different in size. The average weight of males from

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

was and while the average for females there was while in the Orange river valley of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

males averaged and females averaged . They are heavily-built animals, with stocky bodies, short limbs, and an inconspicuous tail. The body is covered in long spines up to in length, interspersed with thicker, sharply pointed, defence quills up to long, and with bristly, blackish or brownish fur. The spines on the tail are hollow, and used to make a rattling sound to scare away

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

s. An erectile crest of long, bristly hairs runs from the top of the head down to the shoulders. The spines and quills cover the back and flanks of the animal, starting about a third of the way down the body, and continuing onto the tail. The quills have multiple bands of black and white along their length, and grow from regularly spaced grooves along the animal's body; each groove holding five to eight quills. The remainder of the animal, including the undersides, is covered with dark hair. The eyes and ears are relatively small, and the mobile

whisker Vibrissae (; singular: vibrissa; ), more generally called Whiskers, are a type of stiff, functional hair used by mammals to sense their environment. These hairs are finely specialised for this purpose, whereas other types of hair are coarser ...

s are short. The feet have five clawed toes, although the

first toe Toes are the digits (fingers) of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being '' digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being '' pl ...

s on the forefeet are vestigial. Females have two pairs of

teat A teat is the projection from the mammary glands of mammals from which milk flows or is ejected for the purpose of feeding young. In many mammals the teat projects from the udder. The number of teats varies by mammalian species and often corr ...

Distribution and habitat

Cape porcupines are found across the whole of southern and central Africa, to southern

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

, and Congo at the northern edge of their range. They inhabit a wide range of habitats, from sea level to , although they are only marginally present in dense forests and the driest of deserts, and are not found in swampland. There are no currently recognised subspecies.

Diet and behaviour

Cape porcupines eat mostly plant material: fruits, roots, tubers, bulbs, and bark. They have a long small intestine and large

caecum The cecum or caecum is a pouch within the peritoneum that is considered to be the beginning of the large intestine. It is typically located on the right side of the body (the same side of the body as the appendix, to which it is joined). The wo ...

, employing

hindgut fermentation Hindgut fermentation is a digestive process seen in monogastric herbivores, animals with a simple, single-chambered stomach. Cellulose is digested with the aid of symbiotic bacteria.nocturnal and monogamous, typically living as mated pairs of adults, caring for any young together. Each pair may inhabit up to six burrows, jointly defending their shared territory, although they typically forage as individuals. Both sexes scent mark their territory, although males do so more frequently, and may play a more active role in its defence. The size of the

home range A home range is the area in which an animal lives and moves on a periodic basis. It is related to the concept of an animal's territory which is the area that is actively defended. The concept of a home range was introduced by W. H. Burt in 1943. He ...

varies depending on the local habitat and availability of food, but can range between at least . When attacked, the porcupine freezes. If cornered, it turns vicious and charges to stab its attacker with its quills. Otherwise, the porcupine may retreat into its burrow, exposing only its quills and making it hard to dislodge.

Reproduction

Cape porcupines mate throughout the year, although births are most common during the rainy season, between August and March. Unless a previous litter is lost, females typically give birth only once each year.

Oestrus The estrous cycle (, originally ) is the set of recurring physiological changes that are induced by reproductive hormones in most mammalian therian females. Estrous cycles start after sexual maturity in females and are interrupted by anestrous ...

lasts for an average of nine days, during which a membrane across the

vagina In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hymen ...

opens to allow insemination. After mating, a

copulatory plug A mating plug, also known as a copulation plug, sperm plug, vaginal plug, or sphragis (Latin, from Greek σφραγίς ''sphragis'', "a seal"), is gelatinous secretion used in the mating of some species. It is deposited by a male into a female g ...

forms, which is expelled about 48 hours later. Gestation lasts around 94 days, and results in the birth of a litter of up to three young, although over half of births are of singletons. Newborn young weigh , and initially have soft quills. Although they are born with their

incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...

teeth fully erupted, the remaining teeth begin to appear at 14 days, with the full set of adult teeth present by 25 months. They are weaned at around 100 days of age, and grow rapidly for the first twenty weeks, reaching the full adult size, and sexual maturity, at the end of their first year. Relative to most other rodents, Cape porcupines are long-lived, surviving for ten years in the wild, or up to twenty years in captivity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:porcupine, Cape

Cape porcupine The Cape porcupine (''Hystrix africaeaustralis''), Cape crested porcupine or South African porcupine, is a species of Old World porcupine native to central and southern Africa. Description left, 180px, head Cape porcupines are the second large ...

Mammals of Zambia Mammals of South Africa Mammals of Southern Africa Mammals of Sub-Saharan Africa