Reproduction in captive female Cape porcupines (Hystrix africaeaustralis).
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.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D004971:Estrus; D005260:Female; D007774:Lactation; D008098:Litter Size; D010507:Periodicity; D011247:Pregnancy; D012098:Reproduction; D012377:Rodentia / Q000502:physiology*; D012741:Sexual Maturation