Family HYSTRICIDAE

(OLD WORLD PORCUPINES)

• Large nocturnal, terrestrial, herbivorous rodents, with bodies covered in long, sharp spines for defense.

• • 50-110 cm.

• Afrotropical, Palearctic, and Indo-Malayan Regions.

• Mediterranean coastal shrubland, warm and cold savanna grasslands, dry semi-deserts, lowland and montane tropical forest, forested hills and steppes, acacia and miombo woodland, agricultural, and urbanized habitats.

• 3 genera, 11 species, 13 taxa.

• 1 species Vulnerable; none Extinct since 1600.