THE DIET OF THE CRESTED PORCUPINE HYSTRIX-CRISTATA L, 1758 IN A MEDITERRANEAN RURAL AREA

Studied was the diet of crested porcupines by faecal analysis in a rural hilly area in central Italy. Food categories were identified by comparison with either isolated sections of fresh plant material or digested fragments obtained from captive porcupines fed experimentally Roots predominated in the diet and were consumed at a similar frequency all year round. Herbs were the most eaten epygeal category especially in winter and spring. Possibly the winter consumption of herbs was related to a decrease in the availability of other food categories, such as grass inflorescences and Fruits. Consumption of these two food categories was positively correlated and inversely associated with herbs, Grass inflorescences (mainly Hordeum murinum) were an important diet component in summer, Porcupines fed on fruits mainly in summer and autumn. The consumption of storage organs increased in winter and in spring. The values of trophic niche breadth and overlap suggested that porcupines are generalist foragers. These feeding habits. combined with the abandonment by man of the countryside in the last few decades, may partly explain the recent range expansion of the crested porcupine in Italy.