New Species Of Tree-Living Porcupine Discovered In Brazil, Already At High Risk For Extinction

A new species of tree-living porcupine was found in the threatened Northeastern Atlantic Forest in Brazil, according to researchers.

The new kind of porcupine dons dark brown spines with reddish tips and was found by Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes and colleagues in a isolated patch of forest in the state of Pernambuco in the northeast.

And with the only 2 percent of the original forest that still exists, the new species-which has been given the scientific name Coendou speratus-should be considered endangered immediately, Pontes said.

The team of researchers estimates that there are about four of the novel porcupines per square kilometer in the location where the species was found-the Usina Trapiche Forest Remnants Archipelago.

The Coendou speratus is active during the nighttime and sleeps inside holes in tree trunks.

And while the new species are at the hands of predators like jaguars and domesticated dogs, Pontes says that humans present the highest risk to the porcupine.

"People are responsible for logging, clear-cutting and setting fire to the forests and sometimes for hunting the porcupines themselves," he said.

And it is not just the Coendou speratus that is at risk for extinction due to the threatened forest.

"Given the rate of destruction in this area, where 98 percent of the original Northeastern Atlantic Forest has already been destroyed, imagine how many species could have gone extinct before we even knew about them," Pontes said.

The findings on the Coendou speratus discovery were published in the journal Zootaxa.

(SOURCE)