Mammals of the WorldAsian Brush-tailed Porcupine
Atherurus macrourus
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Hystricidae
- Genus
- Atherurus
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- China|India|Bangladesh|Myanmar|Thailand|Laos|Vietnam|Cambodia|Malaysia
- Realm
- Palearctic|Indomalaya
About this species
- Habitat
- Subtropical and tropical montane forest; forest floor with dense undergrowth, cane, bamboo and palms; burrows
- Range
- Bhutan, India, China and Southeast Asia
- Litter size
- 1 young; one or two litters a year
- Gestation
- 100–110 days
The Asiatic brush-tailed porcupine is a rodent in the porcupine family (Hystricidae), found from India and China through mainland Southeast Asia to Malaysia. It is nocturnal and fossorial, living in subtropical and tropical montane forest, usually on the forest floor in areas with profuse undergrowth interspersed with cane, bamboo and palms. It builds burrows that may be occupied by up to three animals (Wikipedia, general species account).
A camera-trap study found it typically active at night, with a single activity peak in the three hours before midnight, and on full-moon nights it limited foraging to dawn and dusk to avoid predators such as Asian golden cats and clouded leopards. The female has one or two litters a year, each of a single young, after 100–110 days. The cached account gives no description or diet (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of Malaysia guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)