Prehensile-tailed porcupine explained

The prehensile-tailed porcupines or coendous (genus Coendou) 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.^[1]

Characteristics

Among the most notable features of Coendou porcupines are their unspined prehensile tails. The front and hind feet are also modified for grasping. These limbs all contribute to making this animal an adept climber, an adaptation to living most of their lives in trees.

They feed on leaves, shoots, fruits, bark, roots, and buds. They can be pests of plantation crops. They also make a distinctive "baby-like" sound to communicate in the wild.

Their young are born with soft hair that hardens to quills with age. Adults are slow-moving and will roll into a ball when threatened and on the ground. The record longevity is 27 years.

Species

• Genus Coendou - prehensile-tailed porcupines
  • Baturite porcupine - C. baturitensis - a newly discovered species^{[2] [3] [4]}
  • Bicolored-spined porcupine - C. bicolor
  • Streaked dwarf porcupine - C. ichillus
  • Bahia porcupine - C. insidiosus
  • Black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine - C. melanurus
  • Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine - C. mexicanus
  • Black dwarf porcupine - C. nycthemera
  • Amazonian long-tailed porcupine - C. longicaudatus
  • Brazilian porcupine - C. prehensilis
  • Frosted hairy dwarf porcupine - C. pruinosus
  • Andean porcupine - C. quichua
  • Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine - C. roosmalenorum
  • Stump-tailed porcupine - C. rufescens
  • Santa Marta porcupine - C. sanctamartae
  • C. speratus - a newly discovered species^[5]
  • Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine - C. spinosus
  • Brown hairy dwarf porcupine - C. vestitus

References

• Gorbunova . V . Bozzella . MJ . Seluanov . A . Rodents for comparative aging studies: from mice to beavers . Age (Dordr) . September 2008 . 30 . 2–3 . 111–119 . 10.1007/s11357-008-9053-4. 2527635 . 19424861.
• Book: Nowak, Ronald M . Walker's Mammals of the World . 1999 . 6th . Johns Hopkins University Press . 0-8018-5789-9.

Notes and References

1. Voss. R. S.. Hubbard. C.. Jansa. S. A.. Phylogenetic Relationships of New World Porcupines (Rodentia, Erethizontidae): Implications for Taxonomy, Morphological Evolution, and Biogeography. American Museum Novitates. 3769. 3769. February 2013. 1–36. 10.1206/3769.2. 55426177.
2. Feijó, Anderson . Langguth, Alfredo . 2013-09-12 . A new species of porcupine from the Baturité range. Revista Nordestina de Biologia . 22 . 1/2. 124–126.
3. Web site: New Discovery: Porcupine Species Identified in Brazil . https://web.archive.org/web/20131213064542/http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/10/new-discovery-porcupine-species-identified-in-brazil/ . dead . December 13, 2013 . National Geographic . 2013-12-10 . 2013-12-20.
4. Web site: Coendou baturitensis: New Porcupine Discovered in Brazil . Sci-News.com . 2013-12-02 . 2013-12-20.
5. Pontes, A.R.M. . Gadelha, J.R. . Melo, É.R.A. . SÁ, F.B. . Loss, A.C. . Caldara Jr, V. . Costa, L.P. . Leite, Y.L.R. . 2013-04-05 . A new species of porcupine, genus Coendou (Rodentia: Erethizontidae) from the Atlantic forest of northeastern Brazil . Zootaxa . 3636 . 3 . 421–438. 10.11646/zootaxa.3636.3.2. 26042302 .