The Long-tailed porcupine (Trichys fasciculata) is a species of rodent in the family Histricidae, found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. [1][2] Long-tailed porcupines are the smallest and lightest member of their family with rat-like appearance and covered in short brown spines. [3][4] They mainly live in subtropical and tropical forests, inside burrows or other similar places including fallen tree trunks and caves. [4][3][5] Long-tailed porcupines are nocturnal, mainly herbivorous but can also consume invertebrates. [3][5] They live up to more than 10 years in captivity and their breeding period starts in September to November with 1-2 porcupettes carried for 7 months at a time. [5][6] Long-tailed porcupine is listed as 'least concern' by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species from being hunted by humans but the population is still considered stable at the moment.[2]
Physical appearance edit
Long-tailed porcupines’ appearances are somewhat rat-like.[3][4] Among the old-world porcupine species, the long-tailed porcupines are the smallest and lightest. [7] Their weight is usually around 1.7-2.3 kg but can be as small as 1.5 kg and their length can be between 27.9-48 cm excluding their tail which is usually up to 24 cm.[5][3][6] To save themselves from predators including larger mammals, snakes and birds, their tails can be lost when grabbed but will not be regenerated.[5][3] Long-tailed porcupines' broad paws allow them to be good climbers, hence they are able to climb trees and shrubs to search for food.[5][4] Their front legs consist of four toes while the back legs consist of five toes.[5]
Long-tailed porcupines are commonly black or brown in colour while their underbody is usually white.[5][3] The short dark brown flattened spines with white base[3] cover their entire body with bristles-like hair in between, except their head and underbody, which are covered entirely with hair.[5] Their spines are shorter than 5 cm, making them the shortest in the Hystricidae family.[5] Long-tailed porcupines' tails are brown in colour and are mostly covered with scales.[5] The tips of the tail, their rear and the hindquarters are covered in brush-like hollow quills which do not produce sound when shaken, unlike other porcupine species.[5]
Distribution and habitat edit
Long-tailed porcupines are found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia [2] with their main habitats being the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. This includes lowland rain forests, montane rain forests, pear swamp forests, heat forests, as well as shrublands, montane alpine meadows, subtropical, tropical coniferous forests and sometimes in mangrove forests. The elevation range of their habitat is 0m to as high as 1159m. [5] The habitats of long-tailed porcupines vary but they mainly live in burrows, rocky crevices or caves, hollow trunks of fallen trees, and termite mounds. [5][4]
Behaviour edit
Long-tailed porcupines are nocturnal animals that generally stayed together in burrows during the daytime and are active outside at night where pair mates often move about separately. [8][5] They are extremely agile climbers despite being typically ground-dwelling creatures. [5] While running, they hold their tails straight up and when scared, long-tailed porcupine would pound their feet as their quills are puffs up and widen. [5] In their burrow, at around 1.5m from the entrance, the pair partners rest huddling each other with their body side in contact. Mutual grooming behaviour is observed between pair mates as they lick each other’s necks. [8] The young porcupettes also exhibit following behaviour where they follow other adult porcupines outside the burrow, generally, their parents but also with sub-adult e.g. their siblings from previous litter, which help in reducing the predation risk to the young porcupettes. [8]
Diet edit
Long-tailed porcupines are primarily herbivores (folivore i.e. diet consist mainly consists of plant material including foliage and lignivore i.e. diet mainly consist of wood), with the main diets being leaves, wood, roots, bark and cambium layer of trees, fruits, seeds and bamboo shoots.[5][3] They also occasionally consume invertebrate insects and terrestrial non-insect arthropods.[5] Long-tailed porcupine helps in seed dispersal as they are food hoarders who collect fruits and seeds.[3] Additionally, they feed on the cambium layer, causing the death of the trees which contributes both negatively and positively, the positive being that the dead trees create habitats for some bird species.[5] To humans, they also destroy crops for example pineapple and therefore, are sometimes considered a nuisance. [5]
Reproduction edit
Long-tailed porcupines’ breeding periods last from September to November. However, the sexually active period for females only lasts for about a month if they breed within that period. Otherwise, the female becomes sexually active again in the following month.[5] The females vocalize a mating call to signal when she’s ready to mate, attracting the male porcupines. [5] A battle between the males then takes place and the winner, usually the oldest and largest, may then be chosen by the female. [5] The gestation period of Long-tailed porcupines is around 7 months, with 1-2 offsprings called “porcupettes” carried at a time. [5][6] At around 1 year of age, the females start breeding with ovulation beginning when they are 18 months old. [5] Their breeding intervals can be up to 2 litters a year. [5]
After the porcupttes are born, the male and female partners take turns in staying with them in the burrow. The offsprings remain with their parents even after the birth of the next litter, acting as sub-adult, helping nurture the newborn. [8]
Life span edit
In captivity, the Long-tailed porcupines can live up to more than 10 years. There’s still no information on their lifespan in the wild but other porcupine species’ wild longevity is usually 5-6 years.[5][9]
Conservation edit
The main threat to the Long-tailed porcupine population is being hunted by locals for food. [2] However, this doesn’t have a major impact on the population number which is still considered stable and there are no other major threats at the present. [2] Furthermore, the species is somewhat abundant and widespread, hence, it was evaluated by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Least Concern with the current population being assessed as "stable". [2] On the Malaysian Peninsula, long-tailed porcupines are listed as “Totally Protected” under the Protection of Wildlife Act 1972/1976 [5]
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- ^ "ITIS - Report: Trichys". www.itis.gov. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
- ^ a b c d e f "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Long-tailed Porcupine)".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Long-tailed Porcupine - Trichys fasciculata". www.ecologyasia.com. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
- ^ a b c d e "porcupine | Size, Diet, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Reister, Ariane. "Trichys fasciculata (long-tailed porcupine)". Animal Diversity. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
- ^ a b c "Long-tailed porcupine - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio". animalia.bio. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
- ^ "27 Different Types of Porcupines - NatureNibble". 2022-04-28. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
- ^ a b c d "Social structure and reproduction of long-tailed porcupine (Trichys
fasciculata)". Mammalia.
{{cite journal}}: line feed character in|title=at position 68 (help) - ^ "LONG-TAILED PORCUPINE LIFE EXPECTANCY". World Life Expectancy. Retrieved 2022-10-21.