Overview
Distribution
Range Description
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Geographic Range
South America: Venezuela, Guianas, Brazil, Bolivia, and Trinidad.
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
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Physical Description
Morphology
Physical Description
Body length is between 300-600 mm. Dorsal side is covered with short spines. Coloration of dorsal side varies from yellow to black, venter is usually gray. No spines are found on the tail, which is long (330-485 mm) and prehensile. Feet are reflective of their arboreal lifestyle, with long-clawed digits.
Range mass: 0.900 to 5.000 kg.
Average basal metabolic rate: 5.123 W.
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Ecology
Habitat
Habitat and Ecology
The species is nocturnal and herbivorous (Eisenberg and Redford 1999). It rests in tree cavities or canopies during the day. Sexual maturity is reached at about nineteen months and they remain reproductively active for more than twelve years. There is no reproductive season but the reproductive interval is about 203 days. Gestation lasts up to 203 days after which one young is born (Eisenberg and Redford 1999).
Systems
- Terrestrial
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Habitat
These porcupines live in forests between 150-2500 meters in elevation. They occur both in coastal and Amazonian areas of Peru. Occasionally, this species enters cultivated areas.
Terrestrial Biomes: rainforest
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Trophic Strategy
Food Habits
The diet is primarily vegetation, including leaves, tender, stems, fruits, blossoms, and roots. They get at the cambium layer of trees by peeling away the bark. They also have been found to raid guava, bananas and corn from plantations.
Plant Foods: leaves; wood, bark, or stems; fruit; flowers
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Life History and Behavior
Life Expectancy
Lifespan/Longevity
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 17.3 years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 17.0 years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 9.0 years.
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Lifespan, longevity, and ageing
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Reproduction
Reproduction
There is no breeding season. Little is known about courtship and mating interactions between the sexes. Gestation lasts 203 days, after which one precocial young is born. Young weigh 415 grams at birth and can climb almost immediately. Weaning occurs after 10 weeks, adult size is reached in less than a year, and sexual maturity (for females) is achieved in 19 months. Females mate right after young are born.
Range number of offspring: 1.000 to 1.000.
Range gestation period: 195 to 210 days.
Range weaning age: 28.000 to 70.000 days.
Average birth mass: 408 g.
Average number of offspring: 1.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male: 578 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 578 days.
Parental Investment: precocial
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Conservation
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List Assessment
Red List Category
Red List Criteria
Version
Year Assessed
Assessor/s
Reviewer/s
Justification
History
- 1996Lower Risk/least concern
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Conservation Status
Not currently endangered, although habitat destruction affects them adversely.
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
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Trends
Population
Population Trend
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Threats
Threats
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Management
Conservation Actions
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Relevance to Humans and Ecosystems
Benefits
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
These porcupines can damage crops, which they occasionally raid for food.
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Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Prehensile-tailed porcupines are used as food in many parts of South America.
Positive Impacts: food
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Wikipedia
Brazilian Porcupine
The Brazilian Porcupine (Coendou prehensilis) is a porcupine found in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, the Guyanas, Bolivia and Trinidad, with a single record from Ecuador. It inhabits tropical forests at elevations up to 1500 m.[2]
The body is covered with short, thick spines which are whitish or yellowish in color, mixed with the darker hair, while the underside is grayish. The lips and nose are fleshy. The tail is prehensile, with the tip curling upward so as to get a better grip on tree branches. This porcupine can grow to forty inches long, but half of that is tail. It weighs about nine pounds. No spines are found on the tail, which is long (330-485 mm) and prehensile. Its feet are reflective of their arboreal lifestyle, well-adapted for gripping branches, with four long-clawed toes on each.
Behavior
This shy, nocturnal porcupine is solitary or lives in pairs in the branches of trees. During the day it rests in a cavity in a hollow tree or in a well-shaded area of the canopy, 6 to 10 meters above the ground. It rarely descends to the ground, but it shows little fear if it happens to be caught. It is not aggressive but will defend itself ferociously if attacked. Its diet consists of leaves, fruit, and small fresh twigs and shoots. This creature can easily be tamed enough to be kept in captivity. Intra-specific interactions consist of biting and attempts to injure adversaries with their sharp quills. When excited, porcupines stamp their hind feet. Vocalizations consist of growls and cries. If caught, the porcupine rolls into a ball. The prehensile tail is used to curl around branches when climbing.
Reproduction
As a rule the female gives birth to a single young in the spring. The newborn porcupine is covered with red hairs and small spines, which harden shortly after birth.
References
- ^ Marinho-Filho, J., Queirolo, D. & Emmons, J. (2008). Coendou prehensilis. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 5 January 2009.
- ^ Woods, Charles A.; Kilpatrick, C. William (16 November 2005). "Infraorder Hystricognathi (pp. 1538-1600)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). p. 1547. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=13400103.
- Emmons, Louise H.; Feer, François (1997-09-02). Neotropical rainforest mammals : a field guide (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press. pp. 307. ISBN 978-0-226-20721-6. OCLC 44179508. http://books.google.com/?id=hzqQlALoybIC&printsec=frontcover.
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