---
title: "Cape Porcupine"
description: "Hystrix africaeaustralis — Mammals. The Cape porcupine, Cape crested porcupine or South African porcupine, is a species of Old World porcupine native to central and southern Africa."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/cape-porcupine
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Cape Porcupine

> Hystrix africaeaustralis — Mammals. The Cape porcupine, Cape crested porcupine or South African porcupine, is a species of Old World porcupine native to central and southern Africa.

- Scientific name: *Hystrix africaeaustralis*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammals)
- Habitats: `savanna` (Savanna)
- iNaturalist observations: 6676
- Wikidata: [Q844420](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q844420)
- iNaturalist taxon: [44173](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/44173)

## Names

- en: Cape Porcupine
- de: Südafrikanisches Stachelschwein
- es: Puercoespín africano
- fr: Porc-épic du Cap
- nl: Zuid-Afrikaans stekelvarken
- pl: Jeżozwierz południowoafrykański

## Countries with the most observations

ZA (4281), NA (173), BW (85), ZM (53), MW (36), ZW (33), MZ (20), SZ (10), TZ (9), KE (4), AO (3)

## Summary

The Cape porcupine, Cape crested porcupine or South African porcupine, is a species of Old World porcupine native to central and southern Africa.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_porcupine

## Photo

![Cape Porcupine](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/cape-porcupine/medium.jpg)

Photo: Johan Beets · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/96766069

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/cape-porcupine?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).