SBA #5: Porcky's Portal
The cache is the 5th of 9 caches placed within this special place - regarded by birders as the one of the best birding sites in the Western Cape. Thanks are due to the Supervisor of the False Bay Nature Reserve for kind permission to places caches here.
The cache, a small flip-topped tablet pot, is hidden above the drainage channel a short distance from a culvert which, when dry in the past had appeared from visual and nasal evidence to be the entrance to a porcupine's den.
To reach the cache location:
a) Use the waypoints for GC846D9 Strandfontein Birding Area #1: Bird Info Centreto reach the multi-junction at the hub of the spokes of tracks leading between the pans.
b) Direct from the Information Centre: turn first left here heading south-east between P4 & P5 to the junction @ S 34 05.134 E 18 31.166. Turn right here and continue to the cache location.
c) Continuing cache sequence from GC846DZ SBA#4: Pied Avocet: continue south-west between pans S6 & S7 to the junction @S 34 05.421 E 18 31.252 then turn right (north-west) continuing between pans S4 & S7 to the junction @ S 34 05.224 E 18 31.072. Turn left and continue between pans S4 & P4 to the cache location.
The Cape porcupine or South African porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) is a species of Old World porcupine native to central and southern Africa. They inhabit a wide range of habitats, from sea level to 2,000 m. although they are only marginally present in dense forests and the driest of deserts, and are not found in swampland.
They are the largest rodents in Africa and also the world's largest porcupines. They are also probably the world's fourth heaviest living rodents, after the capybara and the Eurasian and North American beavers. They are 63-81 cm long from the head to the base of the tail, with the tail adding a further 11–20 cm and weigh 10-24 kg, with exceptionally large specimens weighing up to 30 kg.
They are heavily built animals, with stocky bodies, short limbs, and an inconspicuous tail. The body is covered in long spines up to 50 cm long, interspersed with thicker, sharply pointed, defence quills up to 30 cm long, and with bristly, blackish or brownish fur.
The spines on the tail are hollow, and used to make a rattling sound to scare away predators. An erectile crest of long, bristly hairs runs from the top of the head down to the shoulders. The quills have multiple bands of black and white along their length, and grow from regularly spaced grooves along the animal's body; each groove holding five to eight quills. The remainder of the animal, including the undersides, is covered with dark hair.
The eyes and ears are relatively small, and the mobile whiskers are short. The feet have five clawed toes, although the first toes on the forefeet are vestigial. Females have two pairs of teats.
They eat mostly plant material: fruits, roots, tubers, bulbs, and bark - consuming up to 1kg of such foods 
each night. They have also been reported to gnaw on carrion and bones. They are often considered pests by local farmers, because they can feed on crops and damage trees. However, their debarking of trees may also play a role in the maintenance of local savannah ecosystems, helping to prevent the development of denser forested environments. They may also enter unfenced/unwalled suburban gardens consuming vegetables and other favoured plants. Some residents leave out vegetable scraps for them so that they can be easily observed as they come to feed.
They are nocturnal and monogamous, typically living as mated pairs of adults, caring for any young together. Each pair may inhabit up to 6 burrows, jointly defending their shared territory, although they usually forage as individuals. Both sexes scent-mark their territory, although males do so more frequently, and may play a more active role in its defence. The size of the home range varies depending on the local habitat and availability of food, but can range between 67-203 hectares.
When attacked, the porcupine freezes. If cornered, it turns vicious and charges to stab its attacker with its quills. Otherwise, the porcupine may retreat into its burrow, exposing only its quills and making it hard to dislodge. The porcupine grows new spines and quills to replace any that are lost.
They mate throughout the year, although births are most common during the rainy season, from August-March. Unless a previous litter is lost, females typically give birth only once a year.
Gestation lasts around 94 days, and results in the birth of a litter of up to 3 young, although >50% of births are of singletons. New-borns weigh 300-440g and initially have soft quills. They are weaned at around 100 days of age, and grow rapidly for the first 20 weeks, reaching full size and sexual maturity, at the end of their first year.
Relative to most other rodents, they are long-lived, surviving for 10 years in the wild, or up to 20 in captivity.
See here for a fascinating video of a leopard attacking and eventually killing a porcupine - but at some cost! See here for a camera-trap close-up video of a porcupine feeding at night and here for a pair of porcupines at Strandfontein.