Prehensile-tailed porcupine Coendou prehensilis
A tree dweller with a unique prehensile tail.
Find out about the prehensile-tailed porcupine’s life high up in the trees.
The prehensile-tailed porcupine in a nutshell
- eats
- leaves, tree bark, fruits, small animals
- inhabits
- northern South America
- excels at
- tree climbing
The prehensile-tailed porcupine lives in the tropical forests, savannahs and farmlands of northern South America. These animals are known for their unique prehensile tail, which is as long as their body and helps them grip branches.
Nocturnal animal
Because prehensile-tailed porcupines are nocturnal, they do not have much use for their eyes. As a result, these are small and poorly focused. The animals are, however, equipped with an excellent sense of hearing, touch and smell.The porcupines are covered in black, white and brown spines coated in a yellow wax that keeps them strong.
Up high in the trees
Prehensile-tailed porcupines use their tails and claws to climb trees. They remain in the trees most of the time, only coming down to the ground to mate, bear their young and defaecate. The porcupines sleep high up in the branches of the tree during the day, well concealed from their predators.
Prehensile-tailed porcupines communicate by means of a wide variety of sounds. They groan at each other over long distances and utter screams during brief interactions. When issuing threats, they do so by growling and clicking, and when startled they let out a high-pitched scream. When visiting ARTIS, you are most likely to hear these sounds towards the end of the day, when the porcupines become more active.
Solitary life
Prehensile-tailed porcupines prefer a solitary life until they start to reproduce. Their young are born with a thick coat of orange hair and are immediately able to climb. Fortunately for the mother, baby porcupines’ spines are soft at birth and harden within a week. The male regularly sprays the female and their young with urine so that he can easily distinguish them from intruders. Both male and female porcupines mark their territory with urine and with a musky substance exuded when they rub their lower bodies on branches and trees.
