Blessing the rains down in Africa: spatiotemporal behaviour of the crested porcupine <em>Hystrix cristata</em> (Mammalia: Rodentia) in the rainy and dry seasons, in the African savannah

Abstract

The assessment of habitat selection and temporal patterns of activity rhythms is paramount for wildlife conservation. Studies on behavioural ecology of wild mammals are particularly challenging in tropical areas, mostly when involving rare or elusive species. Despite being a common species in Italy, the crested porcupine Hystrix cristata is threatened of extinction throughout most of its sub-Saharan range. All available information on the ecology of this species has been collected in Italy, whereas no data is present in the scientific literature on spatiotemporal behaviour of this large rodent in Africa. In this work, we attempted to determine habitat selection and temporal patterns of activity rhythms of the crested porcupine in northern Benin and neighbouring countries, through intensive camera-trapping. We collected a total of 146 records of crested porcupine, 91 in the dry season (October-March) and 55 in the rainy season (April-September). Porcupines used most habitats in proportion to their local availability, while selecting rock outcrop formations (possibly used as shelter sites) and avoiding open areas, wetlands and gallery forests. A mostly nocturnal behaviour was confirmed throughout the year, with some diurnal activity at the start and at the end of the rainy season. The importance of rains in determining birth peak has been also showed, with juvenile individuals always observed at the start and at the end of the rainy season. Full moon always inhibited activity of this large rodent, most likely evolved as an antipredatory behaviour to limit encounters with potential predators (common leopard Panthera pardus, spotted hyaena Crocuta crocuta and honey badger Mellivora capensis) and humans. Poaching pressure towards porcupines in West Africa is strong. Porcupines are killed for the traditional medicine, for their meat and because they are widely considered as a crop pest. This assessment should therefore be used as a basic tool to design conservation plans to preserve this rodent species in its native range.

Carried away by a moonlight shadow: activity of wild boar in relation to nocturnal light intensity

“…Similarly, Mori et al (2020) showed that the wild boar increases its nocturnality and reduces diurnal activity in areas where a high frequency of wolf passage was recorded. Our findings showing that wild boars are less active during very bright nights, lead us to interpret this behaviour as an anti-predatory strategy, similar to moonlight avoidance in small mammals (Viviano et al 2020;Hernández et al 2021). Thus, where hunting occurs, where predation pressure is high, or in suburban and urban areas, the onset of wild boar activity is usually recorded at sunset (Cahill et al 2003;Mori et al 2020;Rossa et al 2021), whereas in protected areas and where predators are rare, it may occur some hours before (Russo et al 1997;Podgórski et al 2013;Zanni et al 2021).…”

Crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata) abundance estimation using Bayesian methods: first data from a highly agricultural environment in central Italy

“…To date, the crested porcupine is classified as "Least Concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (Amori and De Smet 2016), despite being almost rare in Central African countries (Viviano et al 2020). Nevertheless, in spite of this classification, data referring to its population trend are still widely lacking (Amori and De Smet 2016).…”

Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Trichuris sp. (Nematoda: Trichuridae) in Crested Porcupines (Hystrix cristata; Rodentia: Hystricidae) from Italy

“…The crested porcupine H. cristata Linnaeus, 1758 is a large, nocturnal rodent which is widespread in North and sub-Saharan Africa [21][22][23]. It is the only porcupine species occurring in Europe, with a geographical distribution restricted to mainland Italy and Sicily, most probably due to its introduction from North Africa in the early Medieval period [24][25][26].…”