![]() ![]() ![]() Both adults and weaned juveniles spend an average of 7 hours foraging every night. Like other Old World porcupines, the Indian crested porcupine is nocturnal. For these reasons, they are often regarded as a nuisance. They are also considered serious agricultural pests in many parts of their range due to their taste for agricultural crops. These porcupines can act as substantial habitat modifiers when excavating for tubers. Their capability to form substantial fat reserves is a useful adaptation for living in seasonally fluctuating habitats. They have also been known to chew on bones to acquire minerals, such as calcium, that aid in quill growth. Because they are cecal digesters, they are able to exploit low quality forage. They consume a variety of natural and agricultural plant material, including roots, bulbs, fruits, grains, drupe and tubers, along with insects and small vertebrates. Indian crested porcupines have a very broad and mostly herbivorous diet. In 2018, a porcupine was spotted at Wadi Wurayah in the United Arab Emirates. More specifically, the northern range of the Indian crested porcupine is limited by minimum summer night duration: they do not occur above latitudes where minimum night duration is less than 7 hours, presumably because of the amount of foraging time required to meet their dietary needs. Their range seems to be limited by seasonal densities of forage and the availability of suitable substrates for digging burrows. They prefer rocky hillsides, but are also common in tropical and temperate shrublands, grasslands, forests, plantations, and gardens. Due to their flexible environmental tolerances, Indian crested porcupines occupy a broad range of habitats. Indian crested porcupines are found throughout southwest and central Asia, including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Yemen. Indian crested porcupine on a rocky hillside Like all porcupines, the Indian crested porcupine has a good sense of smell and sharp, chisel-like incisors. It has broad feet with long claws used for burrowing. The Indian crested porcupine has a stocky build with a low surface area to volume ratio, which aids in heat conservation. Contrary to popular belief, Indian crested porcupines (like all porcupines) cannot shoot their quills. The base of the tail contains shorter quills that appear white in color, with longer, hollow quills that the porcupine can rattle to produce a warning sound when threatened. These smaller quills are used to stab at potential threats. Smaller (20 cm) and more rigid quills are packed densely on the back and rump. ![]() These quills can grow up to 51 cm (20 in) long, with most measuring between 15 and 30 cm (5.9 and 11.8 in). The longest quills are located on the neck and shoulder, where the quills form a "skirt" around the animal. Each quill is connected to a muscle at its base, allowing the porcupine to raise its quills when it feels threatened. They are made of keratin and are relatively flexible. The quills are brown or black with alternating white and black bands. It is covered in multiple layers of modified hair called quills, with longer, thinner quills covering a layer of shorter, thicker ones. The lifespan of wild Indian crested porcupines is unknown, but the oldest known captive individual was a female that lived to be 27.1 years old. Their body (from the nose to the base of the tail) measures between 70 and 90 cm (28 and 35 in) with the tail adding an additional 8–10 cm (3.1–3.9 in). The Indian crested porcupine is a large rodent, weighing 11–18 kg (24–40 lb). It belongs to the Old World porcupine family, Hystricidae. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The Indian crested porcupine ( Hystrix indica) is a hystricomorph rodent species native to southern Asia and the Middle East. ![]()
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