Mammals of the WorldIndian Crested Porcupine
Hystrix indica
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Hystricidae
- Genus
- Hystrix
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- Turkey|Georgia|Armenia|Azerbaijan|Russia|Syria|Lebanon|Israel|Palestine|Jordan|Saudi Arabia|Yemen|Kuwait|Iraq|Iran|Kazakhstan|Uzbekistan|Turkmenistan|Kyrgyzstan|Tajikistan|Afghanistan|Pakistan|China|India|Nepal|Sri Lanka
- Realm
- Palearctic|Afrotropic|Indomalaya
Other names: White-tailed Porcupine
About this species
- Size
- Body 70–90cm; tail 8–10cm
- Weight
- 11–18kg
- Diet
- Broad, mostly plant diet
- Habitat
- Natural caves and excavated burrows; semi-fossorial
- Gestation
- About 240 days
The Indian crested porcupine is a large rodent, weighing 11–18 kg, with a stocky build. The body measures 70–90 cm from nose to tail base and the tail another 8–10 cm. It is covered in modified hairs, or quills, brown or black with white and black bands; they can reach 51 cm, though most are 15–30 cm. Shorter, more rigid quills packed on the back and rump are used to stab at threats, and the hollow quills at the tail base are rattled as a warning (Wikipedia, general species account).
It is semi-fossorial and nocturnal, and a good swimmer, living in natural caves or excavated burrows and spending most of its life on or under the ground. It has a mostly herbivorous diet and, as a caecal digester, can use low-quality forage. Adults and weaned juveniles spend an average of seven hours foraging each night. Its range seems limited by seasonal forage density and the availability of soils suitable for digging burrows. Gestation averages 240 days (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)