The Myth of the Prickly Porcupine

The porcupine is the prickliest of the rodent family, it's latin name meaning, "Quill Pig". They carry a full coat of needle-like quills to give predators a sharp warning that it won't be an easy meal! Some quills have measured at nearly a foot long! It is a myth that Porcupines actually "shoot" their quills at predators, that is false and the predator does actually have to come in contact with the quills. Once a victim of being "quilled", the sharp tips and overlapping scales or barbs make them very difficult to remove. A porcupine does grow new quills to replace those that are lost.

Porcupines spend much of their time in trees. Their prehensile or gripping tails aid in their great climbing ability. They have a healthy appetite for wood using their large front teeth, making their meal of natural bark and stems. Fruit, leaves and springtime buds are also a large part of the North American Porcupine's diet.

Female porcupines give birth to one or two young. The babies quills are operational within just hours of being born!

Our prickly Wildlife Model, "Rusty Roo" has been bottle fed and hand raised, from just hours old. He actually had free range of the house UNTIL he reached a couple of months old and then began climbing into my houseplants and eating them down to the roots :)!