North+American+Porcupine


 * Name || Erethizon dorsation ||
 * Family || Erethizontidae ||
 * Kingdom || Animalia ||
 * Phylum || Chordata ||
 * Order || Rodenta ||
 * Genus || Erthizon ||
 * Suborder || Hystriocognatha ||
 * Species || E. dorsatum ||
 * Subfamily || Erethizontidae ||
 * Class || Mammalia ||

Porcupines are good swimmers, thanks to hollow quills, which help them to float. They have About 30,000 quills, which are modified hairs made of keratin, the same material our hair and fingernails are made of. When just babies(porcupettes) they have soft short quills. Porcupines are highly vocal and comunnicate with moans, grunts, coughs, wails, whines, and tooth chatters.

They are BIG eaters, most consume a pound of food a day, nearly 10% of thier body weight. There diet mostly consists of buds, roots, stems, leaves, berries, and nuts. During the winter they tend to eat evergreen neddles and tree bark. Porcupines are fond of salt and sometimes gnaw on bones for minerals.

The porcupine can become up to 18-25in (16-63cm),head and body,5.5-12in (14-30cm), tail.

The lifespan is about 15 years and there mating season is from september to november; gestation is 200 to 217 days, producing 1 to 2 young born.

The porcupine has a dark coat; small head; sharp barbed quills-yellowish at the base, dark tips; stiff guard hairs; wooly underfur; robust body; short legs; and short, thick tail.

The porcupine ranges from North america, from northern Alaska to northern Mexico and Tennessee

During the breeding season, females produce olfactory and auditory clues that indicate their readiness to mate and attract males. Two or more males may fight with one another over the opportunity to mate with a female. These battles can lead to quill impalements and other injuries. In an unusual courtship ritual, males will sometimes soak females with streams of urine while standing on their hind limbs facing the female. The purpose of the behavior is unknown. When the female is ready to mate, she indulges in a kind of dance with the chosen male, where they both rise on their hind feet to embrace, all the while whining and grunting loudly. Sometimes they place their paws on each others' shoulders and rub their noses together; then they may cuff each other affectionately on the head and finally push one another to the ground.