Due to their spiny anatomy, the female crested porcupine raises her tail while the male stands on his hind legs without transferring weight to the female in order to mate.
Given their spiny anatomy, mating would be impossible without such an adaptation. To mate, the female raises her tail and the male stands on his hind legs, supporting himself with his forefeet on the female’s back. No male weight is transferred to the female, no penile lock occurs, and there are multiple intromissions and multiple thrustings.
Mating occurs only at night, both in and out of the burrow.
The females have two to three pair of lateral thoracic mammae. Males have no scrotum and the penis points backward in the resting position.
• Image | ©️ George Hodan, Public Domain (CC0 Public Domain)
• Sources | (Atalar & Ceribasi, 2006; Felicioli, Grazzini, & Santini, 1997; McPhee, 2003; Nowak, 1999; Storch, 1990; The Wikimedia Foundation, 2020b)
Learn More About the Crested Porcupine
