Crested Porcupine: The only rodent that can kill a lion instantly. Why are its needles so deadly? (10 photos)

Sometimes it seems to me that rodents deliberately ruin people's lives. Mice undermine our economy by destroying food supplies. Rats have been spreading dangerous diseases for centuries. And crested porcupines, for example, injure people, hit cars and kill lions.





Yes, the crested is the same porcupine that everyone has seen at least once in documentaries about animals. It lives on the plains of Northern and Equatorial Africa, as well as in... Italy. The ancient Romans brought it there. For what? Well, how can I tell you? The giant punk rat is nothing short of amazing!



Just in case, we remind you: hedgehogs and porcupines are not related to each other in any way! Porcupines are rodents, and hedgehogs are insectivores.

The crested porcupine is one of the three largest rodents in the world. Its weight can reach up to 27 kilograms. But most importantly, he turned his punk hair into a full-fledged weapon. Yes, porcupine quills are hair, just very, VERY stiff.





There are two types of porcupine quills - the first, long and flexible, reach a length of 40 cm. The second are shorter and harder, only 15-30 cm long, but up to half a centimeter thick.

The already rather large rodent turns into a dangerous machine for destroying enemies and vegetation. Without a twinge of conscience, he eats fruits, leaves, and bark. And once on a farmer’s plantation, the porcupine will massacre all the fruits and shoots. And who will stop him? A porcupine can even kill a lion with its quills, let alone unfortunate farmers.



Out of 40 big cats that attack a porcupine, 10 die instantly. The needles penetrate the body so deeply that they touch vital organs. And these are still flowers. If you fail to remove the porcupine's quills, the predator will most likely die.



Adult predators avoid porcupines. But young lions very often run into needles and learn a very valuable lesson: do not touch the prickly rat.

The fact is that if you run into porcupine quills, you can’t just pull them out. You haven't forgotten that their spines are wool, have you? So, both we and porcupines have hair covered with scales. So the porcupine quills turned into pumped arrows: they enter easily, but come out with hellish pain. And if the needle is not pulled out, it will penetrate the body itself! With each movement the victim drives it deeper. And all again because of the ill-fated scales.



Everything gets creepier when you put it under a microscope.

Numerous wounds cause inflammation. The needle is a pain. A predator, exhausted by suffering and ulcers, becomes weak. He can no longer hunt his main prey. Therefore, leopards and lions switch to a more defenseless ration. For example, livestock and people.



There is a myth that the porcupine shoots quills. But in fact, rodent quills fall off very easily. All the enemy needs to do is get caught on the spikes, and they will fall out on their own.

Of course, not all meat eaters face such a fate. But all Africans are aware that porcupine is a deadly spicy food. The spiny rodent is hunted exclusively in cases where no other prey can be found. For example, in drier areas of Africa. There the porcupine becomes prey 3 times more often.



The spiciest dish of African cuisine.

It is not surprising that from such protection the porcupine lost all vigilance, which is why he himself now suffers. Giant rats, accustomed to special treatment from the local fauna, are not afraid to walk along roads and farms. The logic is simple: everyone avoids them, which means people will too! Alas, the rodent does not know about the existence of firearms and cars, and is increasingly dying either from a bullet or under the wheels.



Some people keep porcupines as pets. It's a shame we can't pet them :(

However, they continue to cling to life with respectable tenacity. Until 2-3 years of age, males and females play stubborn social phobes and stay away from any other representatives of their species. And then - a spark, a storm, madness, a joint mortgage for life and several generations of backbreakers. If the North African populations somehow restrain their love impulses, then the southerners manage to have 2-3 litters of children in 1 year! And this is during a pregnancy of 110 days!



Fortunately, young people require minimal care. Babies are born sighted, toothy and quite mobile. And after 2 weeks, their soft fur turns into hard spines. At the same time, mothers stop feeding their children milk; no one likes a punctured belly.

My rating for crested porcupines: 33 misfortunes. This is exactly how many problems they can bring in 15-20 years of their life. Cool guys!