Throughout its range, the Indian porcupine is hunted as a food source (Gurung and Singh 1996). Also, its role as a herbivore may allow it to help with the spread of seeds and pollen.
Positive Impacts: food
On average, the Indian porcupine's head and body measure 70-90 centimeters (cm) in length, with the tail adding an additional 8-10 cm (Prater 1965). Its hair is highly modified to form multiple layers of spines. Beneath the longer, thinner spines lies a layer of shorter and thicker ones. Each quill is brown or black in color, with alternating bands of white. Spines vary in length, with the neck and shoulder quills being the longest, measuring 15 to 30 cm (Gurung and Singh 1996). The tail is covered with with shorter spines that appear white in color. Among these, are longer, hollow, rattling quills that are used to alarm potential predators (Ellerman 1961). The feet and hands are broad, with long claws that are used for burrowing.
Range mass: 11 to 18 kg.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 27.1 years.
The Indian porcupine is highly adaptable to multiple environments. Although they usually favor rocky hill sides, the species can also be found in tropical and temperate scrublands, grasslands, and forests. They are also found throughout the Himalayan mountains, reaching up to elevations of 2400 meters (Gurung and Singh 1996).
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest ; scrub forest ; mountains
The Indian porcupine (Hystrix indica) is found throughout southeast and central Asia and in parts of the Middle East, including such countries as India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Israel, Iran and Saudia Arabia.
Biogeographic Regions: palearctic (Native ); oriental (Native )
The main food source for the Indian porcupine is vegetable material of all kinds, including fruits, grains, and roots (Prater 1965). They have also been known to chew on bones, in search of minerals (such as calcium) that help their spines grow (Gurung and Singh 1996, Prater 1965). The species utilizes both natural plants and agricultural crops as food sources.
Plant Foods: roots and tubers
Primary Diet: herbivore (Lignivore, Eats sap or other plant foods)
The Indian porcupine uses crop plants extensively as a food resource, thus leading to a significant loss for agriculture. In addition, the species can be extremely destructive to gardens and landscaping, as they burrow through or consume the resources in these areas.
Indian porcupines can cause some medical problems as well, with the possibility that humans or, more significantly, pets may come into contact with their quills.
Throughout its range, the Indian porcupine is common and does not face a significant threat towards its continued existence (Gurung and Singh 1996). Its adaptability to a wide range of habitats and food types helps insure their healthy populations.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical
The main predators for this species is man and large cats. There have been recorded fatalities of tigers and leopards that were caused by the Indian porcupine as it defended itself (Prater 1965, Gurung and Singh 1996).
Gestation for the species, on average, lasts 240 days (Gurung and Singh 1996). Brood size varies, ranging from2 to 4 offspring per year (Prater 1965). Young are born with their eyes open, and the body is covered by short soft quills. The Indian porcupine is usually monogamous, with both parents being found in the burrow with their offspring throughout the year.
Key Reproductive Features: gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual
Average gestation period: 113 days.
Average number of offspring: 2.
Localized (Northeastern Sinai).
Accidental?
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.[1]
The Indian crested porcupine is a large rodent, weighing 11–18 kg (24–40 lb).[2] Their body (from the nose to the base of the tail) measures between 70 and 90 cm (28 and 35 in) with the tail adding an additional 8–10 cm (3.1–3.9 in).[3] The lifespan of wild Indian crested porcupines is unknown, but the oldest known captive individual was a female that lived to be 27.1 years old.[2]
It is covered in multiple layers of modified hair called quills, with longer, thinner quills covering a layer of shorter, thicker ones.[2] The quills are brown or black with alternating white and black bands.[4] They are made of keratin and are relatively flexible.[4] Each quill is connected to a muscle at its base, allowing the porcupine to raise its quills when it feels threatened.[4] The longest quills are located on the neck and shoulder, where the quills form a "skirt" around the animal.[4] These quills can grow up to 51 cm (20 in) long,[4] with most measuring between 15 and 30 cm (5.9 and 11.8 in).[5] Smaller (20 cm) and more rigid quills are packed densely on the back and rump.[4] These smaller quills are used to stab at potential threats.[4] The base of the tail contains shorter quills that appear white in color, with longer, hollow quills that the porcupine can rattle to produce a warning sound when threatened.[6] Contrary to popular belief, Indian crested porcupines (like all porcupines) cannot shoot their quills.[4]
The Indian crested porcupine has a stocky build with a low surface area to volume ratio, which aids in heat conservation.[7] It has broad feet with long claws used for burrowing.[2] Like all porcupines, the Indian crested porcupine has a good sense of smell and sharp, chisel-like incisors.[4]
Indian crested porcupines are found throughout southwest and central Asia,[2] including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Yemen.[1] Due to their flexible environmental tolerances, Indian crested porcupines occupy a broad range of habitats.[1] They prefer rocky hillsides,[2] but are also common in tropical and temperate shrublands, grasslands, forests, plantations, and gardens.[1] Their range seems to be limited by seasonal densities of forage and the availability of suitable substrates for digging burrows.[8] More specifically, the northern range of the Indian crested porcupine is limited by minimum summer night duration: they do not occur above latitudes where minimum night duration is less than 7 hours, presumably because of the amount of foraging time required to meet their dietary needs.[9]
In 2018, a porcupine was spotted at Wadi Wurayah in the United Arab Emirates.[10][11]
Indian crested porcupines have a very broad and mostly herbivorous diet.[2] They consume a variety of natural and agricultural plant material, including roots, bulbs, fruits, grains, drupe and tubers, along with insects and small vertebrates.[2][3][12][13] Because they are cecal digesters, they are able to exploit low quality forage.[14] They have also been known to chew on bones to acquire minerals, such as calcium, that aid in quill growth.[3][5] Their capability to form substantial fat reserves is a useful adaptation for living in seasonally fluctuating habitats.[7]
These porcupines can act as substantial habitat modifiers when excavating for tubers.[15][16] They are also considered serious agricultural pests in many parts of their range due to their taste for agricultural crops.[9][17] For these reasons, they are often regarded as a nuisance.[1]
Like other Old World porcupines, the Indian crested porcupine is nocturnal.[2] Both adults and weaned juveniles spend an average of 7 hours foraging every night.[9][18][19] They tend to avoid moonlight in the winter months, which could be a strategy to evade predation.[18] However, during summer months they do not avoid moonlight (likely because there are less dark hours during which to forage), but instead tend to stay closer to their dens.[18] During the day, they remain in their dens,[19][20] but throughout the winter, they occasionally emerge from their dens during daylight hours to bask in the sun.[7]
The Indian crested porcupine is semifossorial.[2] They live in natural caves or in excavated burrows.[19][20] Because they do not climb or jump well, they spend most of their lives on or under the ground.[4] However, they are good swimmers.[4]
Predators of the Indian crested porcupine include large cats,[21][22] caracals, wolves, striped hyenas, Asian wild dogs, Saltwater crocodiles[23] and humans.[18] When excited or scared, a porcupine stands its quills up to appear larger.[4] It can also rattle the hollow quills at the base of its tail, stomp its feet, growl, grunt, or charge backward into the threat.[4]
Indian crested porcupines mate in February and March.[24] Gestation lasts an average of 240 days.[5] A female gives birth to one brood of two to four offspring per year.[3] Young are born with open eyes and are covered in short, soft quills that harden within a few hours after birth.[2] Young are fully weaned 13–19 weeks after birth, but remain in the den with parents and siblings until sexual maturity around 2 years of age.[24] It has been reported that the Indian crested porcupine is usually monogamous and mates every night throughout its life, not only for reproduction, but also to maintain and strengthen the pair bond, the relationship between the male and female partners.[25] Previously, this had only been found in humans, Bonobos, and some dolphins.
Due to its adaptability to a wide range of habitats and food types, the Indian crested porcupine is listed by the IUCN Red List as Least Concern as of 2008.[1][2] Populations are stable and not severely fragmented, and while population status varies across its range, in many places it is common enough to be considered a pest.[1] However, as a result of urbanization, infrastructure development, and pesticide use, suitable porcupine habitat is currently declining.[2]
The Indian crested porcupine is protected under the India Schedule IV of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, amended up to 2002.[2] Nonetheless, because it is destructive to gardens and agricultural crops, it is widely hunted.[5][26] It is traded for consumption and medicinal use.[2]
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help) 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.
