The quills detach readily if touched by a predator, but grow back quickly. Porcupines also have a group of hollow quills on their tails which rattle when shaken. They can erect their crest and quills at will, which makes them appear large and threatening. The quills are striped black and white, which serves as a warning to potential predators. Their short rump spines and the underside of their tails are white. Alfred Huang North American Crane ExhibitĬape porcupines' bodies are covered with flat, bristly hairs, and they have large quills on their posterior back and sides that range from a couple of inches to a foot in length.Support our Field Conservation Department.Louise Felton Zookeepers’ Memorial Fund.Jonathan Gilmour Memorial Scholarship Fund.Donate your Cell Phone to Help Gorillas.AZA SAFE: Saving Animals from Extinction.Wildlife Trafficking Alliance: Be Informed.Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project.Protecting Habitats with the Motus Wildlife Tracking System.New England Blazing Star and Native Pollinators.T the potential impacts that introduced dispersers may have on native plant communities and call for further study of disperser introductions worldwide. Seed removal was greater in areas with higher regional conspecific adult densities regardless of treatment, but agoutis had a greater impact relative to other seed removers on the seed removal of the study's rarest species. Species with smaller seeds were preferentially taken by seed removers other than agoutis, whereas agoutis were responsible for the majority of the removal of larger-seeded species. Within 13 days, 47 percent and 28 percent of seeds had been removed from control groups and agouti exclosure groups, respectively, leading to 19 percent of seed removal being attributed to agoutis. Seed groups were either accessible to the entire seed-remover community or placed within exclosures designed to exclude agoutis. We recorded removal rates in three regions of Dominica from 168 experimentally placed seed groups containing a total of 1356 seeds. We investigated seed removal of seven rainforest species on the island of Dominica in the Lesser Antilles by the entire seed-remover community and specifically by the Red-rumped Agouti, Dasyprocta leporina, a scatter-hoarding rodent introduced to the island approximately 2500 years ago. Although effects of introduced seed predators have been documented, little is known about how introduced dispersers influence seed movement patterns. The introduction of non-native seed dispersers has the potential to significantly alter distributions and relative abundances of native plants. The results of this study highlight the potential impacts that introduced dispersers may have on native plant communities and call for further study of disperser introductions worldwide.
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