It has been estimated that porcupines have been around for about 35 million years. They can be found in many parts of the world including: North, Central and South America, Asia, Africa and Indonesia.
Their name comes from the French word porc which means pig and epine which means spine. Apparently, the large nostrils and snorting noises a porcupine makes reminded people of a pig. But they are not related to the pig at all. Porcupines are actually rodents. They are the second largest rodent, beavers being the largest.
Porcupines are 32 to 46 inches in length (including the tail) and weigh 11 to 40 pounds. They measure 12 inches at the shoulder. They have sharp incisors for gnawing and curved claws for climbing. Stiff bristles on the underside of the tail aid in climbing, also. These bristles are pressed against the tree and help the porcupine keep his balance. They are nocturnal and do not hibernate in the winter.
When their 30,000 quills are flat they are covered by a guard coat which gives the porcupine a soft appearance. In the winter the guard coat grows longer to help keep the porcupine warm.
When a porcupine feels threatened he will chatter his teeth in warning and raise his quills. (The guard coat helps to keep the quills raised.) If his foe doesn’t leave, he will then hit his enemy with his spiky tail. The barbed ends of the quills make the quill stick in the skin of his predator. The quills are loose in the skin so when the porcupine shakes his tail they come out easily.
Porcupines eat fruits, vegetables, leaves, bark, flowers, grasses, water lilies and other aquatic plants. The quills are filled with a spongy material which helps them float so they can easily swim to eat water flora. Swimming is also something used to escape predators.
In spite of their protective quills, which are all over their body except their stomach, porcupines do have predators. They include: bears, foxes, bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, eagles, and fishers. Fishers (a member of the weasel family) are the most successful predator. In the 1950s and 60s, when there was an overabundance of porcupines, the states of Vermont and Montana stocked the woods with fishers to help control the porcupine population.
Porcupines live in tree stumps, hollow trees, stone walls, caves, and abandoned houses. They live alone but are willing to share their domicile in the winter with one or two other porcupines.
They do not hibernate in the winter but because of the lack of food supply once the snow falls, they will eat a lot in the fall to prepare for winter. Most of the time in the winter the only food available is tree bark. Tree bark, while filling, is not full of nutrients so a porcupine can lose up to one-third of its weight when eating only tree bark.
Porcupine mate in the fall and give birth usually in May. The female gives birth to only one baby (called a porcupette) at a time and will raise it by herself. The quills are not hard when the porcupette is born, but within 30 to 40 minutes they are stiff enough for protection. Porcupettes will stay with their mother throughout the summer, learning to climb, look for food, and defend itself against predators. In the fall he will leave his parent and be on his own.
Native Americans once ate porcupines and used the quills to decorate baskets, moccasins, and headdresses.
If an orphaned porcupette is found it will often be kept as a pet. Owners of pet porcupines say they are playful and friendly. At first they must be handled with thick gloves, but after the porcupine feels safe with his human family he will not raise his quills.
In many areas porcupines are considered pests because they get into gardens and eat the vegetables. They will also eat flowers, geraniums being their favorite.
Porcupines will live for 9 to 15 years. Even though they only give birth to one porcupette at a time (porcupettes have a very high survival rate) they are in no danger of extinction. They are a study animal and their quills give them excellent protection.
