Porcupine - description, habitat, lifestyle

Porcupine managed to become famous for its unusual appearance far beyond the boundaries of its natural habitat. It belongs to rodents and is a mammal. In total, there are 8 subgenus porcupines classified by their habitat. How did it happen that over the years of evolution, this animal acquired such massive needles?

Species and classification of porcupines

There are several types of porcupines, and each of them is different from each other:

1. Malay porcupine. This is a fairly large rodent, whose body length in adulthood is 70 cm, and the tail is 11 cm. The color of its needles can have all shades of yellow, diluted with white spots. They live in Nepal and Northeast India.
2. South African porcupine. This species also has large body sizes, reaching up to 80 cm. It has a main row of needles 50 cm long and a defensive row, the length of needles in which reaches 25 cm. This species likes to settle in the foothills, not climbing above 2000 m above sea level .
3. Comb (crested) porcupine. This species is the best studied by man. The body is long and heavy; an adult weighs 27-30 kg. They live throughout the Middle East and are also found in India and Sri Lanka.
4. Indian porcupine. Representatives of this species, as the name implies, are settled on the territory of India. They also live in southern Asia. Females of this species give birth 2 times a year, bringing from 1 to 4 cubs. Compared to other porcupine species, this is an average.

Appearance and needles

The appearance of the porcupine is so unique that this animal cannot be confused with any other in the world. And all thanks to the huge bright needles that cover most of the back of the porcupine. They are quite massive and can reach a length of 50 cm with a thickness of a little less than a centimeter. They are a natural part of the cover of the animal, which includes several more elements:

1. Needles of different lengths, transformed over the years of the development of the species from hard long hairs.
2. Wool with increased elasticity.
3. Flat needles, the tip of which is hidden under a layer of fur and other needles.
4. Soft fur.

Due to its weight and its ability to cling to the tip for everything, porcupine needles do not hold well in the skin of the back and often fall out. However, this does not cause the animal any pain or discomfort, and new needles will soon grow on the spot. In order to protect itself, the animal can leave a whole sheaf of needles in the face of the predator, which has a very painful effect. There are frequent cases when dogs find a porcupine during a walk and try to play with it, and a few minutes later the owners take the pet to the veterinary clinic.

There is a popular misconception that a porcupine is able to shoot at the enemy with needles. It is not true. As already mentioned, the porcupine doesn’t need to part with dozens of needles, and the attacker, as a rule, cannot predict that the rodent at the last moment will substitute its prickly back.

Another myth associated with porcupine needles tells that their tips supposedly contain poison, which leads to a long and painful death. And this misconception has no confirmation. Porcupine needles do have a toxic effect on the body, but this is not due to poison, but to the incredible amount of germs that live on porcupine needles. Hardly at least once did the water touch the back of the animal.Therefore, it is not surprising that each needle becomes a breeding ground for infection and leads to blood poisoning.

Inside the needle is either hollow or filled with a special substance - it all depends on their location. When the predator attacks, the porcupine tries to intimidate the enemy by raising the needles up and making them a sound similar to the ringing and clicking of a rattle. In case this does not help, the porcupine will not run away from the scene of the battle, but will set the needles in action.

Short hair covers the stomach, face and legs of the porcupine. The tail is also covered with wool, but it is harder in this place than on the rest of the body, and small needles in the shape of an inverted glass grow on it with it. The intensity of the color varies throughout the body, turning from brown to black. On the sides are alternating stripes of dark and light color.

The body of the porcupine has a length of 40 to 80 cm with a weight range of 3 to 30 kg. At the same time, eating habits of an individual individual play an important role, because a dense diet allows the animal to gain several kilograms in excess of normal weight.

The movement of porcupines is slow and very awkward. All because of their short legs, which do not allow him to develop greater speed. The legs of the porcupine are covered with thin brown hairs through which you can see the skin. The number of fingers on the forelimbs ranges from 3 to 4, the hind legs are five-fingered, with the first finger not fully developed. Each finger has a tenacious black claw at the end. The porcupine tail reaches a length of 14 cm, but in some subspecies it grows to 20-25 cm.

The porcupine has rather massive bones of the facial section, the skull itself is elongated, with a blunt short muzzle. Some species have a bristled crest in the middle of the crown. The porcupine has a strong landing of its front teeth, which grow all its life, which excludes their complete grinding. In total, this animal has 20 teeth, with 4 anterior ones noticeably larger and darker than the rest.

The ears and eyes of the porcupine are disproportionately small and are located near the forehead itself. In their shape, the ears resemble human ones, and the nose occupies most of the muzzle. Porcupines rarely make any sounds, but in the event of a threat they can puff, grunt, or even grunt. Such sounds mean that the animal is preparing for an attack.

Lifestyle in nature

Porcupine settles in the foothills and various wastelands. He will feel good in rocky terrain and deserts. Among the rocks and caves, the porcupine has the opportunity to build a lair from existing natural crevices. Otherwise, the animal will dig a hole on its own. The length of the porcupine burrow exceeds 10 meters and goes underground up to 4 m. The burrow has several branches, in one of which there is a sleeping place lined with dried grass and leaves of small bushes.

The peak of porcupine activity falls at night; the beast spends its day in a hole. With the onset of cold weather, the animal's activity slows down, but the porcupine does not fall into full hibernation. A rodent is not particularly afraid of a person and settles near a dwelling, which allows observing a porcupine in its natural habitat.

Nutrition

At night, the animal is able to cover several kilometers in order to find a small supply of food. During such trips, they leave well-distinguishable trails along which it is not difficult to find the porcupine lair. Plant food is the main food of this rodent. Porcupine eats young shoots, herbaceous plants, roots, flower bulbs and tubers. With the onset of autumn, he switches to a more diverse food - vegetables, gourds, grapes. In the winter season, porcupine can nibble on tree bark. This is caused by a lack of vitamins and protein, which cause the animal to eat something inedible.

Sometimes small insects get into the diet of porcupine. He eats them to eliminate the lack of sodium in the body.This is the only case when a porcupine is distracted from its vegetarian diet. Despite the presence of large front teeth, he is not able to chew hard fibers or break the chitinous shell of beetles.

Breeding

The porcupine breeding season begins in March. The female carries the cubs for 3-4 months, after which she gives birth to 2-3, sometimes 5 cubs. Already in the first days of life, newborns have small needles that grow and get stronger over time. But so far they are pressed to the back and are just starting to harden. However, after a week they become sharp enough to prick. Typically, the female feeds the young with milk for no longer than 2 weeks, after which they begin to eat plant foods, following the example of the parent.

In natural habitats, porcupine is unlikely to live longer than 9-10 years, but in zoos, this indicator increases to 20-22 years.

Ecosystem Impact

With their existence, porcupines significantly stirred up the ecosystem and brought out from a number of predators those character traits that were unusual for them before meeting with a rodent. One such example is the appearance of tigers and leopards hunting humans for food in India and Africa. There are cases when one big cat killed 100 or more people in several years, coming to the same village. This happened and is happening because the predator, having run into the porcupine needles, can no longer get rid of them on its own, no matter what attempts it takes. The infection that has come after this painful incident weakens an already vulnerable animal, as a result, the big cat becomes disabled and holds tight to each new place where she manages to find food.

Human interaction

Porcupine is not stopped by fences and a strong iron net. It does not cost him to dig a dig under the fence, and to cut through the net with his powerful incisors. In the past, such actions of these animals gave the planters a lot of headache, and regular hunting was carried out on porcupines. Now their population has decreased significantly, and the damage caused is no longer so significant.

Interesting facts about porcupines

1. African porcupines have an unusual pastime described by J. Darell. He claimed that porcupines in the area where he stayed rolled down from smooth stone elevations, and then climbed back. He made such an assumption, based on the traces they left. As a consequence, it was confirmed that these rodents really arrange such games.
2. In African countries, they serve fried porcupine skin as a delicacy.
3. Due to their sedentary lifestyle, porcupines without much stress carry life in zoos and, with good care, multiply quickly.

Video: porcupine (Hystrix cristata)