Crested porcupines have five high crowned teeth in each jaw with plane chewing surfaces for grinding plant cells that are then digested in the stomach.
The crested porcupine has five teeth in each jaw: one incisor, one premolar and three molars.
Crested porcupines have high crowned teeth with plane chewing surfaces for grinding plant cells that are then digested in the stomach. Undigested fibers are retained in the enlarged appendix and anterior large intestine and broken down by microorganisms.
In addition, the crested porcupine commonly gnaws on bones for calcium and to sharpen incisors.
• Image | ©️ Dallas Krentzel, Some Rights Reserved (CC BY 2.0)
• Sources | (Bruno & Riccardi, 1995; McPhee, 2003; Nowak, 1999; Storch, 1990; The Wikimedia Foundation 2020b)
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