[15] The shape of the barbs makes the quills more effective, both for penetrating the skin and remaining in place. Both types of porcupines are typically solitary, though New World porcupines may pair up. This, along with the raising of the sharp quills, deters predators. They spend a lot of time in the tops of trees. New quills grow to replace lost ones. Porcupines are nocturnal, which means they are active during the night and sleep during the day. Over the winter, their normally nocturnal nature altes allowing them to take advantage of any dry period, night or day, for feeding. They freeze when approached by predators and sometimes show aggressive behavior such as running backwards or sideways towards the attacker to implant their spikes. Porcupine Habitat and Behavior: Porcupines are nocturnal and make their homes in rocky areas for daytime slumber. Parker, SB (1990) Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals, vol. Old World porcupines are terrestrial and strictly nocturnal, and have longer quills. They grow back over time. [12] The antibiotic properties are believed to aid a porcupine that has suffered from self-injury. Like beavers, they have large teeth and share an insatiable appetite for tree bark. [15][16] Porcupines were long believed to have the ability to project their quills to a considerable distance at an enemy, but this has since been proven to be untrue.[17][18]. Porcupines are mostly nocturnal and move in either small groups or in solitary. 4, McGraw-Hill, New York. They have a small head and their body is covered with sharp quills (thick needle-like hairs). Sometimes the African Porcupine can be seen in daytime. Over the winter, their normally nocturnal nature altes allowing them to take advantage of any dry period, night or day, for feeding. Porcupines will communicate when they are feeling threatened by vocalizing, displaying their quills and clattering their teeth. Porcupines are normally nocturnal creatures. At birth, they have soft quills, which harden in a few days. There are four main displays seen in a porcupine which are quill erection, teeth clattering, emitting of odour, and attack. Porcupines are nearsighted and slow-moving. "Porcupines, Porcupine Pictures, Porcupine Facts", "North American porcupine – Erethizon dorsatum (Linnaeus, 1758)", "Porcupines raise thorny questions in Kenya", "Wild Southeast Asian porcupines under threat due to illegal hunting, researchers find", "Wildlife Extra News – Illegal hunting threatens Vietnam's wild porcupines", "Microstructured barbs on the North American porcupine quill enable easy tissue penetration and difficult removal", "Variance of molecular datings, evolution of rodents, and the phylogenetic affinities between Ctenodactylidae and Hystricognathi", "Multiple molecular evidences for a living mammalian fossil", "Rodent phylogeny revised: analysis of six nuclear genes from all major rodent clades", "Impacts of the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution and KPg extinction on mammal diversification", "A glimpse on the pattern of rodent diversification: a phylogenetic approach", The Complete Resource To Keeping Porcupines As Pets, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Porcupine&oldid=995549612, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from September 2010, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 17:31. [11] These displays are ranked from least aggressive to most aggressive respectively. However, between September and December, it seeks out other porcupines for mating. Please refresh the page and try again. During the winter porcupines damage trees by chewing through the bark to eat the inner bark. Along with the raising of the quills, porcupines clatter their teeth causing warning noise to let predators know not to come closer. Porcupines give birth to one live offspring per year after a seven-month gestation time, so they don’t reproduce with the rapidity of a lot of other rodents. They also eat nuts, tubers, seeds, grass, leaves, fruit and buds. Click here for the lowest price! If that doesn't work, they may charge backwards into the predator. They have as many as 30,000 quills on the back, tail and sides and use them as a defense against predators. Porcupines are the thi largest rodents in the world, and the second largest in North America. If cornered, it turns vicious and charges to stab it's attacker with its quills. Due to being hollow, quills of this animal were used to keep gold dust. The New World porcupines are indigenous to North America and northern South America. [10], Defensive behaviour displays in a porcupine depend on sight, scent and sound. The largest porcupine is the North African crested porcupine. Porcupines are seldom eaten in Western culture, but are very popular in Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam, where the prominent use of them as a food source has contributed to significant declines in their populations. Bones also give them important minerals, like salt and calcium, to keep them healthy. They are herbivores and eat leaves, twigs and woody plants. Porcupines are nocturnal and tend to be solitary except during the breeding season, but they may den together in the wintertime. All porcupines have a few traits in common. They have a small head and their body is covered with sharp quills (thick needle-like hairs). Lakota women would harvest the quills for quillwork by throwing a blanket over a porcupine and retrieving the quills it left stuck in the blanket. Porcupines are normally nocturnal creatures. They rarely live alone, but always forage alone. Foraging habits greatly differ among porcupines, depending on group and location. (1.2 to 35 kilograms), depending on species, and their tails can grow up to 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm), according to the San Diego Zoo. North American porcupines are some of the biggest rodents that come from North America, beaten out in size solely by beavers, according to the Woodland Park Zoo. Porcupines are nocturnal rodents. Crested porcupines produce one to two litters (of one to 3 young) per year, depending on whether they live in the wild or in captivity. This large nocturnal rodent has also developed a unique … Porcupines weigh 2.5 to 77 lbs. Porcupines are primarily nocturnal. Porcupines are mostly nocturnal, spending their evenings foraging for dinner. Porcupines average 13 to 20 pounds. As nocturnal animals, Indian porcupines spend their daytime hours in their dens. [11] The rattling of quills is aided by the hollow quills at the back end of the porcupine. In winter, they chew through the outer bark of fir, hemlock, aspen and pines trees to eat the tender layer of … They are covered in quills that they use as a defense mechanism — when they shake them, the quills make a … The courtship ritual includes a variety of strange vocalizations from both the male and female as well as a great deal of nose rubbing. Porcupines will communicate when they are feeling threatened by vocalizing, displaying their quills and clattering their teeth. Thank you for signing up to Live Science. A. Porcupines like salt, tender trees, fruits and vegetables. Porcupines are herbivores. It grows up to 36 inches (90 centimeters) long. They include the large crested porcupines, some of which can grow more than 2 … During the wintertime, porcupines eat a lot of tree bark, as well. Taxonomically, the way scientists assign order to species using Latin names, the North American Porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum, is the only species (dorsatum) in its genus (Erethizon). The main quills may be dyed, and then applied in combination with thread to embellish leather accessories such as knife sheaths and leather bags. Though they don't eat meat, porcupines chew on bones to sharpen their teeth. If you want to learn more about this interesting family, this AnimalWised article will go over how do porcupines defend themselves , explaining all about their attack strategies when they feel threatened. There are 11 species within the old world porcupine family; they tend to be nocturnal and larger than the new world family with a couple of exceptions. Porcupines are nocturnal. During the winter porcupines damage trees by chewing through the bark to eat the inner bark. Porcupines have become a pest in Kenya and are eaten as a delicacy. All porcupines are nocturnal and quite adaptable, found in a variety of habitats, as long as there is vegetation. When attacked, the porcupine freezes. They are less strictly nocturnal than their Old World relatives, and generally smaller. The major difference between Old and New world species is that the Old World porcupines live on the ground and often in small groups, while the New World porcupine… Porcupines do not normally quill intruders without advanced notice. Porcupines are nearsighted and slow-moving. A strange-looking creature with a humped body, a long snout, and a thick tail, aardvarks … Like beavers, they have large teeth and share an insatiable appetite for tree bark. 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