AS-HOPE report

Number: AS-24-029

Ecology of porcupine living in tropical rainforest

Report: Aoi Matsukawa

Date: 2012/10/23 - 2013/2/26

 I have studied Hystricidae in Kabili-Sepilok forest Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia, for October 2012 to February 2013.
 It is difficult to fine porcupine signs in the tropical rainforest and also because they are nocturnal animals. Therefore, I set up a total of 40 box traps. And three individuals of Long-tailed porcupine were caught. But one of them was an immature, I did not tag with a radio-tracking device.
 I put the device on two individuals of porcupine (male: 1, female: 1), and conducted radio-tracking at night. In the result, I succeeded to track them about 90 days. Also I was able to observe directly for the first time.
 They came out from their burrow after dark. After spraying around burrow entrances, they foraged through their territory for food separately. This pair was temporarily stable during the study period, with pair members sharing burrows and hiding places. At present, I am analyzing the image dates more precisely.

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