The African Crested Porcupine is the largest porcupine in the world. They can be found all over Northern Africa and parts of Southern Italy too. Although the word porcupine means “quill pig” in Latin; porcupines are part of the rodent family and are Africa’s largest rodent, weighing up to 30kg.
They are nocturnal, meaning they sleep during the day and are most active at night as they forage for food. They primarily eat roots, bark, tubers and fallen fruits but are seen as an agricultural pest in many places as they will eat crops. Crested porcupines live in large family units, usually in burrows. Porcupines cannot shoot their quills – instead they will charge backward to fight off attackers. They also have specialised quills that make a rattle sound to warn off predators.
Baby porcupines, called ‘porcupettes’, are born with their quills. The quills are soft at birth and begin to harden within the first 2 weeks of life. African Crested porcupines are classed as “least concern” by the IUCN red list but are often hunted for their meat and quills.
