The prehensile-tailed porcupine's kingdom is animalia, phylum is Chordata. The class is Mammalia. The order is Rodentia. The family is Erethizontidae.

     The prehensile-tailed porcupine's range is South Panama, Andes from Northwest Columbia to North Argentina and Northwest Brazil. Their habitat is forest areas and low lying jungles.

    The head and body length of a prehensile-tailed porcupine is 30cm or 12 inches. Its tail is long but does not have quills. The dorsal side of the porcupine is covered with short spines. The adult spines are approximately two and a half inches. .Colors of the dorsal quills vary from yellow to black.
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    These porcupines are very near sighted and have keen senses of touch , hearing and smell. They all have large brains and appear to have good memories. They are very clumsy when they are forced to move to the ground.

   While in the wild, the porcupine eats leaves, tender stems and fruits. Sometimes it even eats crops, like corn, from a farmer’s fields. They will sometimes damage crops to get food for survival.

   There is no breeding season. Females mate right after the young is born. Gestation lasts 203 days after one young is born. Normally, only one infant is born at a time. The infants are covered with short spines that are flexible at birth and harden soon afterwards. Young weigh 415 grams at birth and can climb almost immediately. Adult size is reached in less than a year. Sexual maturity for females is accomplished in 19 months. When they are born they are usually orange and have soft skin.

    These porcupines are nocturnal. During the day, they rest in trees. If       caught, they roll into a ball. The tail is used to curl around trees while climbing. Their enemies are large animals, such as an ocelet or people.

For more information visit:
http://www.hoglezoo.org/mammals/preporc.htm
http://www.rogerwilliamsparkzoo.org/what_to_see/tropical_america/tropamerica_porcupine.htm
http://www.animalsoftherainforest.com/prehensiletailed.htm
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/coendou/c._prehensilis$narrative.html
http://sites.communitylink.org/vazoo/porc.htm
                                                                                            by Keke
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