Habitat richness affects home range size in a monogamous large rodent

In monogamous species, after pair formation, the main reason for ranging movements is not searching fora mate, but for other important resources e.g. food. We monitored a total of 20 radio-tagged adult, pairedcrested porcupines in four areas of different habitat richness. No sexual size dimorphism was assessed.Body mass and habitat richness showed collinearity. For both sexes, home range size was correlated tohabitat richness, with a significant inverse exponential regression. Opposite to natural foragers, living inpoor habitats, crop foragers had smaller home ranges, with their dens significantly closer to cultivations.Both availability of food resources and den sites are key variables to determine home range size.