Mammals · Rodentia · Erethizontidae

Brazilian Porcupine

Coendou prehensilis

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The Brazilian porcupine or coendú is a rodent of the American rainforests entirely adapted to life in the trees: it has a long prehensile tail, bare at the tip, that it curls upwards, the opposite way to monkeys, and broad, padded soles for gripping branches. It is covered in short, sharp black and white quills. It feeds on shoots, fruit and bark, and comes down to the ground very rarely.

Weight

3 kg – 5 kg

Size

30 cm – 60 cm

Lifespan

17 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

RainforestHerbivore Nocturnal Solitary Rainforest Mammal

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Fun facts

Its prehensile tail curls upwards, not downwards as in the American monkeys: the anatomical difference is that the gripping pad is on the upper surface of the tail, not the lower.
Like all porcupines, it does not shoot its quills: they come loose at the slightest contact and have microscopic scales at the tip that make them hard to pull out, a detail that has inspired the design of surgical needles and medical adhesives.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: Canopy of rainforest, dry forest and plantations of South America and southern Central America
Sexual maturity: 19 months
Gestation / incubation: 6.7 months
Litter / clutch size: 1

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coendou_prehensilis