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AnAge entry for Erethizon dorsatum


Classification (HAGRID: 03225)
TaxonomyKingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Rodentia
                Family: Erethizontidae
                    Genus: Erethizon
SpeciesErethizon dorsatum
Common nameNorth American porcupine

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevity23.4 years (captivity)
Sourceref. 671
Sample sizemedium
Data qualityacceptable
Observations

These animals appear to have a remarkably long life span in the wild, living up to 18 years [0434]. One captive specimen was about 23.4 years when it died [0671].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity1,095 days
Male sexual maturity1,095 days
Gestation210 days
Weaning60 days
Litter size1 (viviparous)
Litters per year1
Inter-litter interval
Weight at birth500 g
Weight at weaning1,000 g
Adult weight8,600 g
Postnatal growth rate0.0079 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
Maximum longevity residual119 %

Metabolism

Typical body temperature309ºK or 36.0ºC or 96.8ºF
Basal metabolic rate13.6750 W
Body mass6871.0 g
Metabolic rate per body mass0.001990 W/g

References

[0777] Harper et al. (2007), Skin-derived fibroblasts from long-lived species are resistant to some, but not all, lethal stresses and to the mitochondrial inhibitor rotenone, PubMed
[0481] Austad (2005), Diverse aging rates in metazoans: targets for functional genomics, PubMed
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3, PubMed
[0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0441] William Burt et al. (1998), A Field Guide to Mammals
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves

External resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemITIS 180393
Animal Diversity WebADW account
Encyclopedia of LifeSearch EOL
Genome ProjectSearch NCBI
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