The prehensile-tailed porcupines or coendous (genus ''Coendou'') are found in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

. Two other formerly recognized

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

tree porcupine genera, ''Echinoprocta'' and ''Sphiggurus'', have been subsumed into ''Coendou'', since ''Sphiggurus'' was shown by genetic studies to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

, while ''Echinoprocta'' nested within ''Coendou''.

Characteristics

Among the most notable features of ''Coendou'' porcupines are their unspined

prehensile Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ that has adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term ''prehendere'', meaning "to grasp". The ability to grasp is likely derived from a number of different orig ...

tails. The front and hind feet are also modified for grasping. These limbs all contribute to making this animal an adept climber, an adaptation to living most of their lives in trees. They feed on

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

, shoots,

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, e ...

, roots, and buds. They can be pests of

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

crops. They also make a distinctive "baby-like" sound to communicate in the wild. Their young are born with soft hair that hardens to quills with age. Adults are slow-moving and will roll into a ball when threatened and on the ground. The record

longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for " life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always ...

is 27 years.

Species

*Genus ''Coendou'' - prehensile-tailed porcupines ** Baturite porcupine - ''C. baturitensis'' - a newly discovered species **

Bicolored-spined porcupine The bicolored-spined porcupine (''Coendou bicolor'') is a species of nocturnal and arboreal rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The head and body of ''Coendou bicolor'' measure about 543&nbs ...

- ''C. bicolor'' ** Streaked dwarf porcupine - ''C. ichillus'' ** Bahia porcupine - ''C. insidiosus'' ** Black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine - ''C. melanurus'' ** Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine - ''C. mexicanus'' **

Black dwarf porcupine The black dwarf porcupine, also known as Koopman's porcupine (''Coendou nycthemera''), is a porcupine species from the New World porcupine family endemic to northern Brazil. It occurs in the Amazon rainforest east of the Madeira River and south ...

- ''C. nycthemera'' ** Amazonian long-tailed porcupine - ''C. longicaudatus'' **

Brazilian porcupine The Brazilian porcupine (''Coendou prehensilis'') is a porcupine found in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru, Paraguay, Suriname, Bolivia and Trinidad, with a single record from Ecuador. It inhabits tropical for ...

- ''C. prehensilis'' **

Frosted hairy dwarf porcupine The frosted hairy dwarf porcupine (''Coendou pruinosus'') is a porcupine species in the family Erethizontidae from Colombia and northern and eastern Venezuela. It was formerly sometimes assigned to ''Sphiggurus'', a genus no longer recognized si ...

- ''C. pruinosus'' **

Andean porcupine The Andean porcupine (''Coendou quichua'') or Quichua porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found in the Andes of northern Ecuador and Colombia as well as in Panama. This porcupine is little known, but is probably ...

- ''C. quichua'' ** Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine - ''C. roosmalenorum'' ** Stump-tailed porcupine - ''C. rufescens'' ** Santa Marta porcupine - ''C. sanctamartae'' **'' C. speratus'' - a newly discovered species ** Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine - ''C. spinosus'' **

Brown hairy dwarf porcupine The brown hairy dwarf porcupine (''Coendou vestitus'') is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. Found in the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is not easy ...

- ''C. vestitus''

References

* * * {{Authority control Coendou Mammals of Guyana