Reproduction in captive female Cape porcupines (Hystrix africaeaustralis)

Abstract

Captive females attained sexual maturity at an age of 9-16 months and conceived for the first time when 10-25 months old. Adult females were polyoestrous but did not cycle while lactating or when isolated from males. The length of the cycle varied from 17 to 42 days (mean ± s.d. 31.2 ± 6.5 days; n = 43) and females experienced 3-7 sterile cycles before conceiving. Pregnancy lasted for 93-94 days (93.5 ± 0.6 days; N = 4) and litter intervals varied from 296 to 500 days (385 ± 60.4; n = 10). Litter size varied from 1 to 3 (1.5 ± 0.66; n = 165) and the well-developed precocial young weighed 300-440 g (351 ± 47.4 g; n = 19) at birth. Captive females reproduced throughout the year with most litters (78.7%; n = 165) being produced between August and March.