Potato Thief Photographed
Category: Mammals, camera-trap | Date: Mar 12 2008 | By: tumaren
For days now we have noticed potatoes missing from our store and so we put into effect our crack surveilance system to catch the culprit. The first image below made me think that we had a lost, mohawk-sporting backpacker on his hands and knees creeping under the fencing to steal our potatoes.
Then we got a look at the thief’s face.
The Potoato Thief is a Porcupine. A massive porcupine if your american or from the new world. New world porcupines and old world porcupines are different in several ways, one is size. the other differences I can’t remember off hand just now.
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10 Responses to “Potato Thief Photographed”
sheryl, washington dc, on 12 Mar 2008
How big is this rodent? Our American porcupines are about 12-35 pounds and around 36 inches long with about 10 inches of tail. Anything bigger would be sorta scary.
I’m sure he doesn’t eat many potatoes.
s.
Wim, on 12 Mar 2008
…nice. Not an Aardwolf, but nice. Are the two (Old/New World), closely related or examples of convergent (ie. similar outcome, different routes), evolution in response to habitat, etc.? Search me. Who knows? Any ideas?
Theresa Siskind St Petersburg FL, on 12 Mar 2008
I love it, now we have a potato bandit on the loose! Better lock your doors, James. Keep the critters coming.
James, on 12 Mar 2008
The Potato bandit, according to Jonathan Kingdon’s Field Guide to African Mammals (a must have for travelers to Africa - Jonathan is not only an accomplished Zoologist but also an excellent artist) The Crested Porcupine (Hystrix cristata) weighs between 10-24kgs. Body lenght, 60-100 cms and tail, 8-17cms. Furthermore, New world porcupines are from a different family than old world porcupines and it appears that they converged in an evolutionary kind of way.
I took the following fron Wikipiedia:
Although both the New World and Old World porcupine families belong to the Hystricognathi branch of the vast order Rodentia, they are quite different and are not closely related. New World porcupines are stout animals, with blunt rounded heads, fleshy mobile snouts, and coats of thick cylindrical or flattened spines (”quills”). The spines are mixed with long soft hairs. They vary in size from the relatively small Prehensile-tailed Porcupines, which are around 30 cm long, and weigh about 900 grams, to the much larger North American Porcupine, which has a body length of 86 cm, and weighs up to 18 kg[1].
They are distinguished from the Old World porcupines in that they have rooted molars, complete collar-bones, entire upper lips, tuberculated soles, no trace of a first front-toe, and four teats.
Also, the word porcupine comes form the french porc d’épine “thorny pork”, hence the nickname “quill pig” . Just something to think about.
sheryl, washington dc, on 12 Mar 2008
OK, so that’s 22-53 pounds - yeah, that’s considerably larger than our porcupines. If something that big wanted my potatoes, I’d let him have ‘em.
s.
Christine C., on 12 Mar 2008
What a riot James…thank you for the post and the pictures…there is a guy in my office that has a stuffed porcupine that looks like it must have weighed at least 50 pounds…it is enormous!!
James, on 12 Mar 2008
Christine - too bad you couldn’t steal (borrow) the co-workers porcupine for us to try some behavioral studies with our live one. of course if it came back shredded you would have to tell him it was in the name of science.
Sheryl - Kerry has put two potatoes out tonight despite my reservations….
Paula, on 12 Mar 2008
I met a couple of tame porcs that were raised by a friend ….they were adorable, friendly, playful…but it ws so hard to play with them! They actually make lovely pets. ..but you need a suit of armour..
Christine C., on 12 Mar 2008
ha, James, that would be interesting…they would probably eat it given their clearly voracious appetites!
Wim, on 13 Mar 2008
Thanks for all the Porc D’Epine information James, they’re worth sacrificing the odd pomme de terre for no? It’s always a treat to look at the less conspicuous wildlife and issues, reminds one that there’s still so much to be personally discovered (always a tonic).
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