It is hard to guess what a Brazilian porcupine weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Brazilian porcupine (Coendou prehensilis) on average weights 4.12 kg (9.08 lbs).
The Brazilian porcupine is from the family Erethizontidae (genus: Coendou). It is usually born with about 411 grams (0.91 lbs). They can live for up to 17.25 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 46.9 cm (1′ 7″). Usually, Brazilian porcupines have 1 babies per litter.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The Brazilian porcupine. (Coendou prehensilis) is a porcupine found in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Bolivia and Trinidad, with a single record from Ecuador. It inhabits tropical forests at elevations up to 1500 m.The body is covered with short, thick spines which are whitish or yellowish in color, mixed with the darker hair, while the underside is grayish. The lips and nose are fleshy. The tail is prehensile, with the tip curling upward so as to get a better grip on tree branches. This porcupine can grow to forty inches long (1 m), but half of that is tail. It weighs about nine pounds (4.1 kg). No spines are found on the tail, which is long (330–485 mm). Its feet are reflective of their arboreal lifestyle, well-adapted for gripping branches, with four long-clawed toes on each.
Animals of the same family as a Brazilian porcupine
We found other animals of the Erethizontidae family:
- Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine bringing 2 kilos (4.41 lbs) to the scale
- Black dwarf porcupine bringing 3 kilos (6.61 lbs) to the scale
- Brown hairy dwarf porcupine with a weight of 736 grams
- Bicolored-spined porcupine bringing 4.49 kilos (9.9 lbs) to the scale
- Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine with a weight of 751 grams
- Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine bringing 1.75 kilos (3.86 lbs) to the scale
- North American porcupine bringing 7.42 kilos (16.36 lbs) to the scale
- Rothschild’s porcupine bringing 2 kilos (4.41 lbs) to the scale
- Black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine bringing 1.9 kilos (4.19 lbs) to the scale
- Black dwarf porcupine bringing 3 kilos (6.61 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Brazilian porcupine
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Coendou prehensilis:
- Coquerel’s sifaka with a weight of 4.19 kilos (9.24 lbs)
- Black-and-white ruffed lemur with a weight of 3.86 kilos (8.51 lbs)
- Short-eared rock-wallaby with a weight of 4.02 kilos (8.86 lbs)
- Hoary fox with a weight of 4.23 kilos (9.33 lbs)
- Bay cat with a weight of 3.43 kilos (7.56 lbs)
- Blue duiker with a weight of 4.86 kilos (10.71 lbs)
- Black-flanked rock-wallaby with a weight of 4.57 kilos (10.08 lbs)
- Asian small-clawed otter with a weight of 3.53 kilos (7.78 lbs)
- Sechuran fox with a weight of 4.23 kilos (9.33 lbs)
- Brown palm civet with a weight of 3.55 kilos (7.83 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Brazilian porcupine
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Brazilian porcupine:
- White-footed saki with a size of 39.4 cm (1′ 4″)
- Short-beaked echidna with a size of 37.6 cm (1′ 3″)
- American badger with a size of 56 cm (1′ 11″)
- Sunda flying lemur with a size of 37.9 cm (1′ 3″)
- Brown’s pademelon with a size of 55 cm (1′ 10″)
- Black-headed spider monkey with a size of 48.9 cm (1′ 8″)
- Southern tamandua with a size of 56.1 cm (1′ 11″)
- Barbary macaque with a size of 54.9 cm (1′ 10″)
- Bahamian raccoon with a size of 46.2 cm (1′ 7″)
- Malagasy civet with a size of 45.7 cm (1′ 6″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Brazilian porcupine
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Brazilian porcupine:
- Bridled nail-tail wallaby
- Caribbean monk seal
- Pennant’s colobus
- Bare-eared squirrel monkey
- Barbary macaque
- Rüppell’s pipistrelle
- Mediterranean horseshoe bat
- Goldman’s woodrat
- Long-fingered triok
- Tailed tailless bat
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Brazilian porcupine
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Brazilian porcupine:
- Lowland paca with an average maximal age of 16 years
- Common bent-wing bat with an average maximal age of 14 years
- Gray mouse lemur with an average maximal age of 15.5 years
- Southern needle-clawed bushbaby with an average maximal age of 15 years
- Japanese serow with an average maximal age of 18.5 years
- Lesser spot-nosed monkey with an average maximal age of 19 years
- Cape grysbok with an average maximal age of 14 years
- Antilopine kangaroo with an average maximal age of 16 years
- Impala with an average maximal age of 17.75 years
- Common pipistrelle with an average maximal age of 16.67 years