Crested Porcupine
Hystrix cristata
The adult crested porcupine lives in rocky scrub, dry woodland, farmland edges, and burrow systems across parts of southern Europe and Africa. Mostly nocturnal, it forages for roots, tubers, bulbs, bark, fallen fruit, and occasionally bones to gnaw for minerals. When threatened, it raises and rattles its quills, stamps, and may charge backward to drive the spines into an attacker. Its long black-and-white crest and detachable defensive quills make it one of the most recognizable Old World porcupines.
- Type
- Shell / Burrow
- Conservation status
- LC
Growth chain
- ?
- Crested Porcupine