Brazilian porcupine

Weight

3.9 kg – 4.4 kgsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

17.3 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

26.6 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

Not recorded

Gestation

203 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

1src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

19 monthssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

1.11src for Litters or clutches a year

Active

At night (nocturnal)src for Active

Lifestyle

Arborealsrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The brazilian porcupine is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderRodentia
5. familyErethizontidae
6. genusCoendou
7. SpeciesCoendou prehensilis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Coendou platycentrotus, Coendou sanctamartae, Hystrix prehensilis

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Bicolored-spined porcupine

Coendou bicolor

Erethizontidae

LC, Least Concern

Stump-tailed porcupine

Coendou rufescens

Erethizontidae

DD, Data Deficient

Black dwarf porcupine

Coendou nycthemera

Erethizontidae

DD, Data Deficient

Brown hairy dwarf porcupine

Coendou vestitus

Erethizontidae

DD, Data Deficient

Streaked dwarf porcupine

Coendou ichillus

Erethizontidae

LC, Least Concern

Black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine

Coendou melanurus

Erethizontidae

CompareBrazilian porcupine vs Bicolored-spined porcupineBrazilian porcupine vs Stump-tailed porcupineBrazilian porcupine vs Black dwarf porcupineBrazilian porcupine vs Brown hairy dwarf porcupine

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{coendou_prehensilis_2026,
  title = {Brazilian porcupine (Coendou prehensilis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/coendou-prehensilis},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}