---
title: "Gewoon stekelvarken"
description: "Hystrix cristata — Zoogdieren. The crested porcupine, also known as the African crested porcupine, is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae native to Italy, North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and East Africa."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/crested-porcupine
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Gewoon stekelvarken

> Hystrix cristata — Zoogdieren. The crested porcupine, also known as the African crested porcupine, is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae native to Italy, North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and East Africa.

- Scientific name: *Hystrix cristata*
- Category: `mammals` (Zoogdieren)
- Habitats: `savanna` (Savanne)
- iNaturalist observations: 3630
- Wikidata: [Q262307](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q262307)
- iNaturalist taxon: [44171](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/44171)

## Names

- en: Crested Porcupine
- de: Gewöhnliches Stachelschwein
- es: Puercoespín crestado
- fr: Porc-épic à crête
- nl: Gewoon stekelvarken
- pl: Jeżozwierz afrykański

## Countries with the most observations

IT (2142), BJ (168), CF (90), KE (82), DZ (58), NE (33), MA (18), BF (17), ET (13), NG (13), TZ (11), TD (9)

## Summary

The crested porcupine, also known as the African crested porcupine, is a species of rodent in the family Hystricidae native to Italy, North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and East Africa. Alongside the Cape porcupine, it is one of the largest porcupine species in the world. It is the only species of porcupine found in Europe.

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

## Photo

![Gewoon stekelvarken](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/crested-porcupine/medium.jpg)

Photo: Vincenzo Catalanotto · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/162391456

## Machine access

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