Porcupine - WikiHQ

Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predators. The term covers two families of animals, the Old World porcupines in the family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines in the family Erethizontidae. Both families display superficially similar coats of rigid or semirigid quills, which are modified hairs composed of keratin, and belong to the infraorder Hystricognathi within the diverse order Rodentia. The two groups are distinct and are not closely related to each other within the Hystricognathi. The largest species of porcupine is the third-largest living rodent in the world, after the capybara and beaver.

The Old World porcupines (Hystricidae) live in Italy, West and South Asia, and most of Africa. They are large, terrestrial, and strictly nocturnal. New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) are indigenous to North America and northern South America. They live in wooded areas and can climb trees, where some species spend their entire lives. They are generally smaller than their Old World counterparts and are less strictly nocturnal.

Most porcupines are about long, with a long tail. Weighing , they are rounded, large, and slow. Their colouration consists of various shades of brown, grey, and white. Porcupines have various methods to defend themselves from predators, the most prominent being the use of their quills, which advertises their unsuitability for being preyed upon. This strategy is known as aposematism. To some degree, the spiny protection resembles that of the hedgehogs, echidnas, and tenrecs, none of which shares any spiny ancestors; all of them, and also the Old World and New World porcupines, are products of convergent evolution. The spines of the various groups also vary markedly.

Humans have a varied history with porcupines, with some cultures considering a symbols of self-defense or cautiousness. Porcupines appear in mythology in regions where the animal has economic significance, such as for food or in the production of quillwork textiles.

Terminology and etymology

The word "porcupine" comes from the Latin + , from Old Italian porcospino, . A regional American name for the animal is "quill-pig".

A baby porcupine is known as a porcupette. When born, a porcupette's quills are soft hair; they harden within a few days, forming the sharp quills of adults.

Taxonomy and evolution

Classification

A porcupine is any of 29 species of rodents belonging to the families Erethizontidae (genera: Coendou, Erethizon, and Chaetomys) or Hystricidae (genera: Atherurus, Hystrix, and Trichys). The two families of porcupines are quite different, and although both belong to the Hystricognathi branch of the vast order Rodentia, they are not closely related.

Porcupines are distributed into two evolutionarily independent groups within the infraorder Hystricognathi, part of the suborder Hystricomorpha of the Rodentia:

Parvorder incertae sedis (formerly Phiomorpha)
Family Hystricidae: Old World porcupines
African brush-tailed porcupine, Atherurus africanus
African crested porcupine, Hystrix cristata
Asiatic brush-tailed porcupine, Atherurus macrourus
Cape porcupine, Hystrix africaeaustralis
Indian crested porcupine, Hystrix indicus
Malayan porcupine, Hystrix brachyura
Sunda porcupine, Hystrix javanica
Sumatran porcupine, Hystrix (Thecurus) sumatrae
Thick-spined porcupine, Hystrix (Thecurus) crassispinis
Philippine porcupine, Hystrix (Thecurus) pumilis
Long-tailed porcupine, Trichys fasciculata
Parvorder Caviomorpha
Family Erethizontidae: New World porcupines
North American porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum
Brazilian porcupine, Coendou prehensilis
Bicolored-spined porcupine, Coendou bicolor
Andean porcupine, Coendou quichua
Black dwarf (Koopman's) porcupine, Coendou nycthemera
Rothschild's porcupine, Coendou rothschildi
Santa Marta porcupine, Coendou sanctemartae
Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou mexicanus
Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou spinosus
Bahia porcupine, Coendou insidiosus
Brown hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou vestitus
Streaked dwarf porcupine, Coendou ichillus
Black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou melanurus
Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine, Coendou roosmalenorum
Frosted hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou pruinosus
Stump-tailed porcupine, Coendou rufescens
Bristle-spined porcupine, Chaetomys subspinosus (sometimes considered an echimyid)

Evolution

Studies on the physical characteristics of New World porcupines initially described them as being the most basal (earliest to diverge) group among the hystricognaths, Dorothée Huchon and Emmanuel Douzery wrote in 2001 on the diversification of the hystricognaths, reporting that molecular phylogenetic studies using nuclear genes (e.g., the von Willebrand factor gene) suggested that the Hystricidae (Old World porcupines), Phiomorpha, and Caviomorpha (which includes New World porcupines) lineages split some 63 to 43 million years ago. This supported a single colonization event of South America by hystricognaths.

Fossils belonging to the genus Hystrix date back to the late Miocene of Africa and Asia. One of the oldest known porcupine fossils is Hystrix primigenia, an Old World porcupine that lived in the late Miocene to the Pliocene; the oldest known porcupine fossil in Asia, Hystrix lufengensis, dates back , also in the late Miocene.

Description

Porcupines are rodents of varying fur color that are characterized by their abundance of protruding spines, or quills, found all along the head and body of the animal. Some species have quills that extend from the tail, as well. They vary in size considerably: an adult Andean porcupine weighs roughly , while the crested porcupine can grow to weigh up to .

Longevity

Porcupines have relatively long lifespans and hold the record for being the longest-living rodent, with one individual named Cooper living over 32 years.

Diet

left|thumb|alt=Porcupine eating grasses|North American porcupine eating grass and clover

The North American porcupine is an herbivore and often climbs trees for food; it eats leaves, herbs, twigs, and green plants such as clover. In the winter, it may eat bark. The African porcupine is not a climber; instead, it forages on the ground. but sometimes forages for food during the day, eating bark, roots, fruits, berries, and farm crops. Porcupines have become a pest in Kenya and are eaten as a delicacy.

Defense

Defensive behaviour displays in a porcupine depend on sight, scent, and sound. Often, these displays are shown when a porcupine becomes agitated or annoyed. The four main displays seen in a porcupine are (in order from least to most aggressive) quill erection, teeth clattering, odour emission, and attack. A porcupine's colouring aids in part of its defence, as most of the predators are nocturnal and colour-blind. A porcupine's markings are black and white. The dark body and coarse hair of the porcupine are dark brown/black and when quills are raised, present a white strip down its back mimicking the look of a skunk. This, along with the raising of the sharp quills, deters predators. Along with the raising of the quills, porcupines clatter their teeth to warn predators not to approach. The incisors vibrate against each other, the strike zone shifts back, and the cheek teeth clatter. This behaviour is often paired with body shivering, which is used to further display the dangerous quills. The use of odour is when the sight and sound have failed. An unpleasant scent is produced from the skin above the tail in times of stress and is often seen with a quill erection. If these processes fail, the porcupine attacks by running sideways or backwards into predators. A porcupine's tail can also be swung in the direction of the predator; if contact is made, the quills could be impaled into the predator, causing injury or death.

Quills

thumb|Quills grow in varying lengths and colours, depending on the animal's age and species.

Porcupines' quills, or spines, take on various forms depending on the species, but all are modified hairs coated with thick plates of keratin and are embedded in the skin musculature. Old World porcupines have quills embedded in clusters, whereas in New World porcupines, single quills are interspersed with bristles, underfur, and hair.

Quills are released by contact or may drop out when the porcupine shakes its body. New quills grow to replace lost ones.

Some possible antibiotic properties are within the quills, specifically associated with the free fatty acids coating them. <!-- As mentioned, in Kenya porcupines are eaten as a delicacy.

thumb|Hunting porcupine near the town of Cassem, in a miniature from [[The Book of Wonders by Italian explorer Marco Polo (first book, manuscript 2810)]]

Naturalist William J. Long reported the taste of the North American porcupine as "vile" and "malodorous" and delightful only to a lover of strong cheese.

More commonly, their quills and guard hairs are used for traditional decorative clothing; for example, their guard hairs are used in the creation of the Native American "porky roach" headdress. The main quills may be dyed and then applied in combination with thread to embellish leather accessories, such as knife sheaths and leather bags. Lakota women harvested the quills for quillwork by throwing a blanket over a porcupine and retrieving the quills left stuck in the blanket.

Use in research

The presence of barbs, acting like anchors, causes increased pain when removing a quill that has pierced the skin. The quills have inspired research for such applications as the design of hypodermic needles and surgical staples.

Porcupine quills have been the subject of research due to their composition and ability to withstand compression. Quills are made of alpha-keratin and are filled with a foam core. Structural units that replicate the design of porcupine quills have been created through stereolithogaphy, a 3D printing technique.

Domestication

Porcupines are sometimes kept as exotic pets. They are also raised in captivity for research purposes

In culture

Porcupines appear in the mythology of various cultures, where the animal is endemic or economically important. It is one of the 28 animals noted as being underdeveloped in some senses in the Bhagavata Purana, classified with other "five-nailed" animals such as the tiger and the tortoise. In San culture, it is grouped alongside animals that have significant reserves of fat or association with honey, such as the hyrax.

As the North American porcupine is widely distributed across the continent, it appears in the mythology of various Native American tribes. In some, such as the Pit River Tribe, they can signify good fortune in hunting. The Arapaho, originally settled in the Red River Valley, made extensive use of quillwork and continued to seek out quills through trade or long expeditions after forced migration to the Great Plains, where porcupines were scarce. They are one of several groups who made use of the North American porcupine for clothing and art, as the practice is recorded from Maine to Alaska.

The porcupine is seen as a pest in some areas due to their salt-seeking behavior. Porcupines seek out any source of sodium to replenish their reserves after consuming significant amounts of plant matter and resort to gnawing on anything that has residues of sodium on or in it, including those from human perspiration. They may chew on tool handles or salt licks, and bite marks are often found in plywood and rubber tires or hoses due to the sodium salts in adhesives used in their manufacture.