#0304 · 🦊 mammals
Cape Porcupine
🇳🇱 Zuid-Afrikaans Stekelvarken ·Hystrix africaeaustralis
📍 Kruger Park, South Africa
📍 Klein Windhoek, Windhoek, Namibia
📍 Firgrove Rural, Cape Town, 7130, South Africa
📍 Western Cape, ZA
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Markus Lilje · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 2. © jerrythornton · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 3. © bathyporeia · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 4. © wildmouse3 · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Jeremy Gilmore · CC BY 4.0
- 6. © Ernest Porter · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. Kruger Park, South Africa:© no rights reserved · CC0
- 8. Klein Windhoek, Windhoek, Namibia:© Peter Erb · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. Firgrove Rural, Cape Town, 7130, South Africa:© linkie · CC BY 4.0
- 10. Western Cape, ZA:© Courtney Hundermark · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The Cape porcupine or South African porcupine , ( Hystrix africaeaustralis ), is a species of Old World porcupine native to central and southern Africa.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 6,915 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Weighs up to about 15.4 kg.
- Scientifically named by Wilhelm Peters in 1852 (174 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Cape Porcupine
- Nederlands
- Zuid-Afrikaans Stekelvarken
- scientific name
- Hystrix africaeaustralis
- class
- Mammalia
- order
- Rodentia
- family
- Hystricidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 6,915
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- 15.4 kg
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1852 by Wilhelm Peters
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Hystricidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 44173, Wikidata Q844420, GBIF 5219885, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.