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Hystrix cristata
Order: Rodentia > Family: Hystricidae > Genus: Hystrix > Species: Hystrix cristata
Common Name: Crested Porcupine [English]
Figure 1. Tanzanian Mammals – Crested Porcupine (Hystrix cristata) Courtesy of: C. Stuart, M. Stuart. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/6ba63416-9376-4ff5-851b-62485ebf2fad (accessed on 04 Feb 2024)
Figure 2. Tanzanian Mammals – Skull of Crested Porcupine (Hystrix cristata), FMNH 89203 Courtesy of: R. A. Banasiak. (c) Field Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/2b96b87b-1e84-4aa2-bf92-b64800b6388e (accessed on 04 Feb 2024)
Type Description
Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1:56.
Type Locality
'Asia', restricted to near Rome, Italy by Thomas (1911a:141).
Measurements
Head and body: 600-930 mm
Tail length: 80-170 mm
Weight: 12-27 g
Tail length: 80-170 mm
Weight: 12-27 g
Description
The longer quills on the tail of the South African porcupine help distinguish it from the Crested porcupine.
Distribution
Hystrix cristata is widely distributed throughout most non-desert areas like savannas, woodlands, steppes, and uplands up to 3,500 m from the central Congo basin and the Southern Highlands in Tanzania north to the Mediterranean. (Kingdon, 1984, 1997)
Figure 3. Distribution map of Crested Porcupine (Hystrix cristata) (c) Field Museum of Natural History. https://mm.fieldmuseum.org/2d1f8203-e714-45a4-b248-78ba467496c1 (accessed on 15 Mar 2024)
Key Reference
1. Kingdon, J. 1984. East African mammals: An atlas of evolution in Africa. (Hares and Rodents). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2B:687-695.
2. Kingdon, J. 1997. The Kingdon field guide to African mammals, AP Natural World Academic Press, Harcourt Brace & Company, San Diego, p. 187.
3. Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World. Sixth ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2:1644-1649.
4. Swynnerton, G. H., and R. W. Hayman. 1951. A checklist of the land mammals of the Tanganyika Territory and the Zanzibar Protectorate. Journal of the East African Natural History Society, 20(6):274-392.
2. Kingdon, J. 1997. The Kingdon field guide to African mammals, AP Natural World Academic Press, Harcourt Brace & Company, San Diego, p. 187.
3. Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World. Sixth ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2:1644-1649.
4. Swynnerton, G. H., and R. W. Hayman. 1951. A checklist of the land mammals of the Tanganyika Territory and the Zanzibar Protectorate. Journal of the East African Natural History Society, 20(6):274-392.