| Long-tailed porcupine Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene - Recent | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Hystricidae |
| Genus: | Trichys Günther, 1877 |
| Species: | T. fasciculata |
| Binomial name | |
| Trichys fasciculata (Shaw, 1801) | |
The long-tailed porcupine (Trichys fasciculata) is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae. It is monotypic within the genus Trichys, [2] and is found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. [3]
Long-tailed porcupines’ appearances are somewhat rat-like. [4] [5] 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. [6] [4] [7] To save themselves from predators including larger mammals, snakes and birds, their tails can be lost when grabbed but will not be regenerated. [6] [4] Long-tailed porcupine's broad paws allow them to be good climbers, hence they are able to climb trees and shrubs to search for food. [6] [5] Their front legs consist of four toes while the back legs consist of five toes. [6]
Long-tailed porcupines are commonly black or brown in colour while their underbody is usually white. [6] [4] The short dark brown flattened spines with white base [4] cover their entire body with bristles-like hair in between, except their head and underbody, which are covered entirely with hair. [6] Their spines are shorter than 5 cm, making them the shortest in the Hystricidae family. [6] Long-tailed porcupines' tails are brown in colour and are mostly covered with scales. [6] 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. [6]
Long-tailed porcupines are primarily herbivores (folivore i.e. diet consist mainly consist 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. [6] [4] They also occasionally consume invertebrate insects and terrestrial non-insect arthropods. [6] Long-tailed porcupine helps in seed dispersal as they are food hoarders who collect fruits and seeds. [4] Additionally, they feed on the cambium layer, causing the death of the trees which contributes both negatively and positively, positive being that the dead trees create habitats for some bird species. [6] To humans, they also destroy crops for example pineapple and therefore, is sometimes considered a nuisance. [6]
Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family Erethizontidae. Both families belong to the infraorder Hystricognathi within the profoundly diverse order Rodentia and display superficially similar coats of rigid or semi-rigid quills which are modified hairs composed of keratin. Despite this, the two groups are distinct from one another 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 ground pangolin, also known as Temminck's pangolin, Cape pangolin or steppe pangolin, is one of four species of pangolins which can be found in Africa, and the only one in southern and eastern Africa. The animal was named for the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. As a group, pangolins are among the most critically endangered and illegally trafficked animals in the world.
The New World porcupines, family Erethizontidae, are large arboreal rodents, distinguished by their spiny coverings from which they take their name. They inhabit forests and wooded regions across North America, and into northern South America. Although both the New World and Old World porcupine families belong to the Hystricognathi branch of the vast order Rodentia, they are quite different and are not closely related.
The Old World porcupines, or Hystricidae, are large terrestrial rodents, distinguished by the spiny covering from which they take their name. They range over the south of Europe and the Levant, most of Africa, India, and Southeast Asia as far east as Flores. Although both the Old World and New World porcupine families belong to the infraorder Hystricognathi of the vast order Rodentia, they are quite different and are not particularly closely related.
A paca is a member of the genus Cuniculus of ground-dwelling, herbivorous rodents in South and Central America. It is the only genus in the family Cuniculidae. Pacas are large rodents with dots and stripes on their sides, short ears, and barely visible tails. Pacas are eaten by people in Belize, where they are known as "gibnut" and, having been served to Queen Elizabeth II, "the royal rat". In the Amazon basin they are known as "majás".
Erinaceidae is a family in the order Eulipotyphla, consisting of the hedgehogs and moonrats. Until recently, it was assigned to the order Erinaceomorpha, which has been subsumed with the paraphyletic Soricomorpha into Eulipotyphla. Eulipotyphla has been shown to be monophyletic; Soricomorpha is paraphyletic because Soricidae shared a more recent common ancestor with Erinaceidae than with other soricomorphs.
The North American porcupine, also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family. It is the second largest rodent in North America, after the North American beaver. The porcupine is a caviomorph rodent whose ancestors crossed the Atlantic from Africa to Brazil 30 million years ago, and then migrated to North America during the Great American Interchange after the Isthmus of Panama rose 3 million years ago.
The Brazilian porcupine is a porcupine found in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru, Paraguay, Suriname, Bolivia and Trinidad, with a single record from Ecuador. It inhabits tropical forests at elevations up to 1500 m.
The Indian crested porcupine is a hystricomorph rodent species native to southern Asia and the Middle East. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It belongs to the Old World porcupine family, Hystricidae.
The prehensile-tailed porcupines or coendous are found in Central and South America. Two other formerly recognized Neotropical tree porcupine genera, Echinoprocta and Sphiggurus, have been subsumed into Coendou, since Sphiggurus was shown by genetic studies to be polyphyletic, while Echinoprocta nested within Coendou.
The brush-tailed porcupines are a genus, Atherurus, of Old World porcupines found in Asia and Africa.
The Formosan rock macaque, also known as the Formosan rock monkey or Taiwanese macaque, is a macaque endemic to the island of Taiwan, which has also been introduced to Japan. Besides humans, Formosan rock macaques are the only native primates living in Taiwan. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1862.
The crested porcupine, also known as the African crested porcupine, is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae native to Italy, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
The four-toed elephant shrew or four-toed sengi is the only living species in the genus Petrodromus, which together with five other extant genera Rhynchocyon, Macroscelides, Petrosaltator, Galegeeska and Elephantulus constitutes the order Macroscelidea. This species is only found in particular regions in Africa and is smaller in size compared to its relatives. A comprehensive recording of this species is lacking.
The Malayan porcupine or Himalayan porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae. Three subspecies are extant in South and Southeast Asia.
The Philippine porcupine or Palawan porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae endemic to the island of Palawan in the Philippines. It is known locally as durian or landak.
The Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine or Mexican tree porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua and Belize.
Choa Saidan Shah, is a medium town and Union Council of Chakwal District in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. It is the capital and of one of the seven Union Councils of Choa Saidan Shah Tehsil.
Cullenia exarillata is a flowering plant evergreen tree species in the family Malvaceae endemic to the rainforests of the southern Western Ghats in India. It is one of the characteristic trees of the mid-elevation tropical wet evergreen rainforests and an important food plant for the endemic primate, the lion-tailed macaque.
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