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Hystrix Africaeaustralis – Cape Porcupine

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Hystrix Africaeaustralis – Cape Porcupine Hystrix africaeaustralis – Cape Porcupine regions. Hunting for bushmeat and persecution for damage caused to fences and crops may result in local declines. Holistic management strategies, such as creating artificial passageways in game fences and establishing sustainable quill and meat trades, should be employed for this species, with positive effects for the wider socio-ecological community. Regional population effects: Extensive and well connected throughout all range states. Rescue effects are possible. Females do not conceive while living in their natal groups and dispersal is a prerequisite for successful reproduction (van Aarde 1987a; van Aarde & van Wyk 1991). However, it is unknown what distances they travel Christy Bragg when dispersing. Regional Red List status (2016) Least Concern Distribution National Red List status (2004) Least Concern Cape Porcupines have a wide distribution in sub-Saharan Reasons for change No change Africa, avoiding the tropical forests of the Congo basin, and the driest parts of the Namib Desert (Monadjem et al. Global Red List status (2016) Least Concern 2015). They occur from Kenya and southern Uganda in TOPS listing (NEMBA) (2007) None the north, through Tanzania, Rwanda, southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, extreme southwestern CITES listing None Congo, Angola, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, and Endemic No then south throughout southern Africa (although they are absent from much of central Botswana). Cape Porcupines are important Within the assessment region, they occur widely across all ecosystem engineers and thus play a valuable provinces, as well as Swaziland and Lesotho. For role in geophyte-rich ecosystems in sub-Saharan example, Power (2014) recorded them as common Africa. For example, in Nieuwoudtville, Northern throughout the North West Province, occurring in every Cape Province, their diggings contained vegetation type but showing some local preference for significantly more seedlings than adjacent areas riparian and rocky habitats. In the Drakensberg Midlands, and they displaced over 2.2 m3 of soil / ha / year, relative occupancy of ten terrestrial mammal species was thus helping to sustain landscape heterogeneity highest for Cape Porcupine (Ramesh & Downs 2015). (Bragg et al. 2005). They may be locally absent from some areas where there is high hunting pressure (Skinner & Chimimba 2005). Population Taxonomy It is a fairly common species across the assessment Hystrix africaeaustralis Peters 1852 region, with relatively high densities. For example, in the ANIMALIA - CHORDATA - MAMMALIA - RODENTIA - semi-arid landscapes around Nieuwoudtville, Northern HYSTRICIDAE - Hystrix - africaeaustralis Cape Province, burrow entrances were found to be a good predictor of the number of Porcupines it contained, Common names: Cape Porcupine, South African where occupied burrow density was estimated to be Porcupine (English), Ystervark (Afrikaans), Noko (Sepedi, 2.6 burrows / km2 and density on the study farm was Sesotho, Setswana), Ingungubane, Inungu (Swati, Zulu), estimated to be 8 individuals / km2 (Bragg et al. 2005). Nungu (Tsonga, Venda), This high density in a semi-arid area was proposed by Bragg et al. (2005) to be a result of the high food Taxonomic status: Species availability in the region (high geophyte density). However, Taxonomic notes: No subspecies have been recognised within more arid regions porcupine numbers can be as (Meester et al. 1986). low as 0.8 individuals / km2 such as in the Kalahari (Bragg, unpubl. data). Thus, we infer that there are over 10,000 mature individuals within the assessment region. Assessment Rationale However, hunting pressure and persecution (by farmers The species remains Least Concern in view of its wide and farm labourers because it is a considered an distribution within the assessment region, its occurrence agricultural pest, for bushmeat by rural communities, and in many habitats, including agricultural and urban for harvesting of the quills for use in the decor sector) may environments, and its relatively high densities in some account for local extinctions in some areas, and current Recommended citation: Bragg C, Child MF. 2016. A conservation assessment of Hystrix africaeaustralis. In Child MF, Roxburgh L, Do Linh San E, Raimondo D, Davies-Mostert HT, editors. The Red List of Mammals of South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho. South African National Biodiversity Institute and Endangered Wildlife Trust, South Africa. The Red List of Mammals of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland Hystrix africaeaustralis | 1 Figure 1. Distribution records for Cape Porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) within the assessment region Table 1. Countries of occurrence within southern Africa 1987b, 1987c). The inter-litter interval in captivity is approximately one year (van Aarde 1985b). Country Presence Origin Current population trend: Stable Botswana Extant Native Lesotho Extant Native Continuing decline in mature individuals: Locally, due to hunting pressure and persecution. Mozambique Extant Native Number of mature individuals in population: > 10,000 Namibia Extant Native Number of mature individuals in largest subpopulation: South Africa Extant Native Unknown Swaziland Extant Native Number of subpopulations: Unknown Zimbabwe Extant Native Severely fragmented: No. Can exist in human modified habitats. density estimates from throughout its range should be ascertained to determine population size more accurately. Habitats and Ecology Cape Porcupines live in extended family groups, They are found in most of the types of vegetation consisting of a breeding male, breeding female and encountered in southern Africa (including the coastal offspring of consecutive years (van Aarde 1987b). Female areas of the Namib Desert), from sea level to 2,000 m asl porcupine offspring do not conceive while in their natal (Skinner & Chimimba 2005). They are generally absent groups and thus dispersal is a prerequisite for from forest, and are only found here marginally. In reproduction (van Aarde 1987b). This has important Nylsvley Nature Reserve, Limpopo Province, they showed implications for the regulation of population size (van a preference for Burkea over Acacia savannah due to Aarde 1987a), because, if there are insufficient resources higher concentrations of food in the former (de Villiers et available in the environment, mature offspring cannot al. 1994; de Villiers & van Aarde 1994). In the Bokkeveld disperse from their natal group and thus cannot Plateau, in the Northern Cape, they showed seasonal reproduce (van Aarde 1987a, 1987b). In captivity, the changes in preference for habitats based on the habitat’s gestation period is c. 93 days, average litter size is 1–3, substrate, seasonal food availability and refuge capacity. and young are usually suckled for 100 days or more (van They can also exist in human-modified areas, such as Aarde 1985a, 1985b). Offspring attain sexual maturity croplands and suburban gardens. between 1–2 years of age, during which time annual survival is relatively high for a rodent (van Aarde 1987a, Porcupines feed predominantly on roots, geophytes and tubers, which are dug up from under the ground using Hystrix africaeaustralis | 2 The Red List of Mammals of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland Table 2. Use and trade summary for the Cape Porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) Proportion of Category Applicable? Rationale Trend total harvest Subsistence use Yes Bushmeat and traditional medicine. Majority Unknown Commercial use Yes Traditional medicine and trophy hunting. Quill Minority Unknown décor industry. Harvest from wild population Yes All Majority Unknown Harvest from ranched population No - - - Harvest from captive population No - - - their strong incisors. Cape porcupines not only consume can dig up to 0.87 m3 of soil / hectare over a year, which is plants selectively (Bragg 2003; de Villiers & van Aarde equivalent to 5,859 tonnes / year and that their 1994) and sometimes en masse (Bragg 2003), but they disturbance can cover up to 510,391 m2 demonstrates the are also able to consume (without any apparent side- scale and intensity of their disturbance patterns (C. Bragg effects) geophyte species that are known to be toxic for unpubl. data). Cape Porcupine disturbance created livestock. They also feed on fallen fruits, and gnaw bones. distinct soil property changes in chemicals and moisture, Due to the combination of their diet and digging abilities, and probably also texture, and therefore creates a mosaic porcupines can become agricultural pests in farming of modified, unmodified and regenerating patches that areas (Monadjem et al. 2015). They do not appear to provide habitats of differing resource availability and scavenge (Shaw et al. 2015). They are nocturnal, territorial physical characteristics (C. Bragg unpubl. data). and solitary foragers, although they can occasionally be Additional disturbance impacts of Cape Porcupines take found foraging in groups of two to three animals. They are the form of the widespread distribution of their multi- monogamous and live in groups comprising either an entrance burrows (c. 60 on the 4,000 ha study area; Bragg adult pair, an adult pair and their offspring from et al. 2005). Cape Porcupines are also important patch consecutive litters, or an adult male and young of the year creators, such as shown by Bragg (2003) through their (Skinner & Chimimba 2005). They are long-lived and have maintenance of the Endangered Sparaxis pillansii a slow reproductive rate. geophytic species in the landscape of
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