How to Eat Spiny Food? Predation by Bird of Prey on Thin-Spined Porcupine, Chaetomys subspinosus (Olfers, 1818)

Authors: Ana Carolina Srbek-Araujo*

DOI: 10.23880/izab-16000562

Volume 7, Issue 1

Abstract

Chaetomys subspinosus is an arboreal, cryptic, medium-sized porcupine. This species has the body densely covered by spines thinner and softer than those of other genera of Neotropical porcupines. Its known natural predators are big cats and harpy eagle, while other mammalian carnivores and large birds of prey in general are cited as potential predators. Here I report a new event of predation by bird of prey on Chaetomys subspinosus in the northern Espírito Santo state, southeastern Atlantic Forest. The predator removed the stomach and intestine of the prey, as well as the spines of its head and the ventral portion of the body. Although it was not possible to identify the predator precisely, it was a medium to large-sized bird of prey, probably a hawk or a hawk-eagle (Family Accipitridae). The presented data contributes information to the natural history of Chaetomys subspinosus, representing one of the first records of predation on this porcupine species by a bird of prey.

Keywords: Accipitridae; Atlantic Forest; Chaetomyinae; Erethizontidae; Predator-Prey Interaction

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