A confident porcupine visits a mother and cub hyena at their den. A strange interaction captured on Africam’s live animal cams.
The Cape Porcupine
The Cape porcupine is the second largest rodent in Africa and the world’s second largest porcupine, second only to the crested porcupine of more northern areas in Africa.
Their black stocky bodies are covered in fur and black and white spines and quills. The long, thin spines of up to 50 cm are interspersed with brown-black fur and shorter defence quills. These defence quills are what we most associate with porcupines.
Hyenas and Clans
Spotted hyenas are the largest of the hyena species and are highly social and intelligent animals. Hyenas fit into their own order of Hyaenidae, they are neither dogs nor cats, though they are more closely related to felids, though distantly. Hyena clans may be between 5 and up to 80 individuals. Territory size varies depending on the size of the clan and prey availability.
When a porcupine meets a hyena cub
In this video, a very confident porcupine approaches a hyena den. The hyena cub is curious, but also incredibly cautious of the spiky rodent. The mom hyena is clam in the situation, resting a few feet from the interaction.
The porcupine charges the young hyena cub, who makes sure to keep space between them, soon running to a very safe distance. The porcupine then charges the resting mother hyena as well.
The hyena cub and mother are then both very alert yet confused about the strange pompous porcupine visitor. The porcupine continues to explore the area, without much remorse, watched very closely by the hyena cub. This strange standoff continues, as both the hyena cub and porcupine watch each other without making a move.
An incredible interaction in the wild, captured by our wildlife streams.
