DOI: 10.5061/dryad.fbg79cp8h
title: Data from: Megafaunal rodents – behaviour and ecological roles of Southeast Asian forest porcupines

description: Porcupines are the megafauna of Southeast Asia’s rodent community and, as
 such, potentially perform important ecological roles in the rainforest
 habitats they are common in. We investigated four ecological roles of
 Malayan porcupines (Hystrix brachyura) and brush-tailed porcupines
 (Atherurus macrourus) within the Belum-Temenggor rainforest complex of
 Peninsular Malaysia. First, camera-traps placed at four Malayan porcupine
 and one brush-tailed porcupine burrow showed that the burrows were used in
 varying ways by at least 22 other animal species. These animals shared the
 burrow, or fed on insects at the entrance, or possibly investigated the
 burrows as predators. Second, seedling surveys on top of the burrows,
 suggested that burrows might also be good microsites for seedling
 establishment and growth (as found previously in arid and semi-arid
 habitats), with a higher species richness and density on the burrows than
 at control sites. Third, porcupines consumed 80 plant species (identified
 through Local Ecological Knowledge, or LEK, from the Indigenous
 community), 65% of which they acted as seed predators for. Fourth, they
 were seed dispersers of 33% of consumed species – mainly by hoarding – but
 also dispersing a few species by endozoochory or consuming only the pulp.
 The dispersed species (identified through LEK) included many
 megafaunal-syndrome species, and porcupines also showed high dispersal
 overlap with elephants (and rats). Hence, as common, megafaunal rodents,
 porcupines are performing important ecological roles within rainforests.
 These findings highlight the important, yet overlooked, role of porcupines
 in maintaining tropical rainforest function, underscoring that their
 conservation is essential for sustaining tropical biodiversity.
description: # Data from: Megafaunal rodents – behaviour and ecological roles of
 Southeast Asian forest porcupines Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.fbg79cp8h](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fbg79cp8h) ##
 Description of the data and file structure GENERAL INFORMATION  Megafaunal
 rodents — behaviour and ecological roles of Southeast Asian forest
 porcupines  Four datasets are included documenting information gathered on
 Malayan (*Hystrix brachyura*) and Asiatic brush-tailed (*Atherurus
 macrourus*) porcupines from a field study in the Belum-Temenggor forest of
 Peninsular Malaysia. ### **Dataset 1: Porcupine_burrow_videos.xlsx**
 Contains information on all recordings of the two porcupine species at the
 burrow entrances during the study period. *Description of data columns:*
 Camera_ID: Code for location and camera number Date: Date porcupine was
 observed Start_time: Start time of video sequence for observation
 End_time: End time of video sequence for observation Video_count: Number
 of videos within the independent observation Indiv_count: Total number of
 porcupine individuals observed Adult_count: Total number of full-sized, or
 almost full-sized,  porcupines observed Young_count: Total number of small
 porcupines observed   ### **Dataset 2:
 Porcupine_burrows_other_animals.xlsx** Contains information on
 non-porcupine species visiting the porcupine burrows during the study
 period. *Description of data columns:* Camera_ID: Code for the camera
 location Porcupine_Taxa: Porcupine species at which the burrow camera was
 set at Animal_name: Common name of animal observed at burrow Scientific
 name: Scientific name for animal observed at burrow, if identified to at
 least family level. Date: Date of visit Start_time: Time of first video
 the animal was observed in End_time: End time at which the animal was
 observed; if animal was observed in one video this is recorded as NA
 Individual_count: Number of individuals observed visiting Notes: General
 behaviour observed   ### **Dataset 3:
 Porcupine_fruit_species_consumed.xlsx** Contains information gathered
 during LEK (Local Ecological Knowledge) interviews and describes details
 on the plant species consumed by porcupines, their handling behaviour and
 the other animal species consuming the same plant species. *Description of
 data columns:* Porcupine consumed species: Lists all consumed plant
 species Family: Plant family Genus Species: Genus and Species names Fruit
 Type: Description of fruit type Fruit width: Fruit width in mm Seed width:
 Seed width in mm Fruit piercing: Subjective scale of how easily the outer
 layer of the fruit can be broken Seed hardness: Subjective scale of how
 hard the seed is Final Seed Treatment: Handling behaviour of the porcupine
   Other animal dispersers: Lists other animals that disperse the seeds of
 plant species consumed by porcupines Animal: Name of animal taxa (species,
 or group of similar animals) Family: Family name of the plant species
 dispersed Genus Species: Genus and Species names of the plant species
 dispersed   ### **Dataset 4: Seedlings_porcupine_burrows.xlsx** Contains
 information on the seedlings found on burrows of the Malayan porcupine and
 at the control site. Names are in Temiar. *Column descriptions:*
 Temiar_name: Name used by Temiar group of Orang Asli Burrow_or_control:
 Whether the seedling was found on top of the porcupine burrow or a control
 site 10 m away from burrow. Porcupine_diet: 1 indicates the plant fruit or
 seeds are consumed by porcupines, as noted by the people identifying the
 species. Blank indicates it is not known to be consumed by porcupines.
 Day_3; Day_2; Day_1; Pla_1; Cad_1; Hal_1: Columns D to I are the codes for
 each burrow; listed here are the number of seedlings found of each
 species.