Seemingly harmless Porcupines
Porcupines, though attired in sharp spiny quills, and look harmless, are in reality the cause for tigers and leopards to turn in to ‘Man eaters.’ ZooLander reports this week about these elusive animals.
Though it has hundreds of spiny quills, porcupines do not look like a threat. Being a rodent it innocently goes about looking for food, seemingly with a big appetite. Did you know that these innocent looking porcupines have been the cause of deaths of hundreds of men and women in India and elsewhere in the world..?
Well, they are the indirect cause, as the wound made by their spiny quills, is that which turns predators such as leopards and tigers into cripples, turning them in to ‘Man-eaters.’ Jim Corbett in his book Man-eaters of Kumaon explains clearly the reason for this and says “A tiger when killing its natural prey, which it does
either
by stalking or lying in wait for it, depends for the success of its
attack on its speed and, to a lesser extent, on the condition of its
teeth and claws. When a tiger is suffering from one or more painful
wounds, or when its teeth are missing or defective and its claws worn
down, and it is unable to catch the animals it has been accustomed to
eating, is driven by necessity to killing human beings. The change-over
from animal to human flesh is, I believe, in most cases accidental” Jim Corbett further explains what he means by ‘accidental’ by bringing in the example of Muktesar the Man-eating Tigress that had killed 24 villagers. “This tigress, a comparatively young animal, in an encounter with a porcupine lost an eye and got some fifty quills, varying in length from one to nine inches, embedded in the arm and under the pad of her right foreleg. Several of these quills after striking a bone had doubled back in the form of a U, the point and the broken-off end being quite close together. Suppurating sores formed where she endeavoured to extract the quills with her teeth, and while she was lying up in a thick patch of grass, starving and licking her wounds, a woman selected this particular patch of grass to cut as fodder for her cattle”.
That was how Tigress Muktesar had ‘accidentally’ become a man-eater. So when you go back on the timeline of Muktesar, it is clear that porcupines have to take some blame for creating these ‘Man-eaters.’ This is not the only case; many of the ‘Man-eaters’ about whom this expert hunter-naturalist writes, have had swollen limbs with painful wounds caused by porcupine quills. It is mentioned that these predators relish porcupine meat and do not hesitate to attack. But porcupines have a well proven defence mechanism in the quills around their body that’s is covered in multiple layers of them, with the longest quills growing from its shoulders to about a third of the animal’s length. Its tail is covered in short, hollow quills that can rattle when threatened.
Best defence is attack
The quills are in fact the modified hairs coated with thick plates of Keratin and they are embedded in the skin-musculature. A porcupine can also drop their quills by shaking its body, but quills cannot be projected at attackers as believed in the past. From ancient times, it was believed that porcupines could throw their quills at an enemy, but this is just a myth, say zoologists.
When cornered, they would raise their spines and rattle their tails. If that does not deter the predator, then a porcupine takes on the aggressive position and moves backwards or sideways pushing the loosely attached quills deep into the body of the unwary predator. Porcupines can launch this backward attack so effectively that, most brushes between predators and the Indian porcupine end in death or severe injury. Every time the pierced animal moves, the barbs at the end of the quills penetrate further into the body. Often, the quills pierce vital organs and the animal dies. Within a few weeks, the porcupine will grow back the lost quills.
It is mentioned, that on an average a porcupine will have about 30,000 short and long quills, which in fact are very special hairs. The quills are comparable in hardness and flexibility to slivers of celluloid, are sharply pointed, and can penetrate any animal’s skin. In addition, the quill tips consist of tiny barbs (sharp points similar to arrows), which makes a quillvery hard to remove when it has pierced the skin and is entrenched. The quills that do the most damage are the short ones that line the porcupine’s muscular tail.
Family members in all over the world
There are 29 different species of porcupines distributed around the world. There are two types of porcupines: Old World porcupines, which live throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa; and New World porcupines, which live in Canada and the United States. Porcupines are nocturnal (active at night), slow-footed, and stocky and spend much of their time on trees, sometimes not coming down for days, at a time. They are herbivores (plant-eaters), feeding on bark, buds, leaves, fruits, grasses, and vegetables.
The name Porcupine is derived from the old French words meaning the ‘Spine pig’. Porcupines are large rodents that belong to the mouse and squirrel family and are in fact the 3rd largest rodents in the world after capybaras and the beavers. Well rounded, large and slow, porcupines feed on leaves, herbs, twigs and green plants like cabbage. The North American porcupine often climbs trees to find food. The African porcupine is not a climber and forages on the ground.
The specie found in Sri Lanka is called the Indian Crested Porcupine and the scientific name is Hystrix indica. Sources indicate that they can grow to around 0.9 m (3 ft) long and weigh about 14.5 kg (32 lb). Our porcupines are mostly nocturnal, but do sometimes forage for food during the day. There are several porcupines in the zoo and they are also found lazily resting during daytime. It is even difficult to photograph them, as they find refuge in the large cylinders, placed in their enclosure. However, when they are being fed, they are quick to come to the dining table.
Adaptable animals, porcupines are seen in some suburban areas of Colombo too. They are not categorized as threatened by the IUCN. When you visit the zoo next time, don’t forget to see the porcupines too. Their den is located near the old quarry.
Leopard versus Porcupine
A battle between a leopard and a porcupine has been photographed by professional wildlife photographer Shem Compion in the Mashatu Game reserve, in Botswana. This young male leopard gets a prickly reception after deciding to make a meal of a porcupine. The big cat was left with sore paws and a bruised ego after losing out in a battle of wits with its spiny opponent. Using all his hunting techniques, the two-year-old male tried pouncing on the porcupine from above, prodding him and trying to roll him over, but to no avail.
Undeterred, the hungry feline even tried extending a gentle paw as the porcupine shook its foot-long spines ferociously. After 25 minutes and several painful spines in his paws, the big cat was forced to accept defeat and retreat with his tail between his legs.
Source: ww.monstrous.com/ Monstrous_ animals/Leopard_versus_Porcupine.html
Published on 08.07.2012 http://www.lakbimanews.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6051%3Aol-spiky-hair-makes-man-eaters-aplenty&Itemid=56
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