THE MOUNTING AND COPULATION BEHAVIOR OF THE CRESTED PORCUPINE HYSTRIXCRISTATA

The paper reports the results obtained over a period of 19 months (Jun e 1992 to December 1993) from the study of the mounting behaviour of a pair of crested porcupines kept in semicaptivity under red light illu mination. Forty-two mounting episodes which occurred inside the artifi cial burrow were recorded by a videocamera and subsequently analysed t o describe the sequence of the mounting and copulation behaviour. The crested porcupine has a rather articulate courtship pattern. In this s pecies, as in the Indian crested porcupine, mounting and copulation oc curs throughout the year and appears to be independent of the reproduc tive status.