Porcupine Erethizon dorsatum

The porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is best known for the sharp quills that cover its body. A slow moving, medium-sized mammal, the porcupine has poor eyesight and relies on its sense of hearing and smell, as well as its quills to avoid predators. The quills are a formidable defense, and only the fisher is consistently quick and agile enough to avoid them. The quills are barbed, which hinders removal, and they slowly work their way from the outside of the animal to the inside, and then back out again. An animal hit in a vital area can die. As a result most wild animals avoid the porcupine.

Vermont Wildlife Fact Sheet

Physical Description internal organ, it could be fatal. A between April and June. Twins porcupine can remove other are uncommon. The young The porcupine is a porcupine's quills by grasping porcupine, or porcupette, weighs medium sized animal that grows them with their incisors and using approximately one pound and is to a length of 18 to 23 inches and its front feet. born precocial, eyes open. Its weighs from ten to 28 pounds. In The porcupine's eyesight teeth are well-formed, and its the northeast, it is brown and is poor, but it has an excellent sense of smell and hearing will black in color with the back, sense of smell and hearing. Like soon develop. The porcupette sides, and tail covered in sharp other rodents, it has two large sports a full set of quills that are quills. There are no quills on the front teeth that grow continuously soft at birth, yet harden within an porcupine's face, its underbelly, or throughout its life. It can produce hour. At two weeks, it feeds on the insides of its legs. It has a wide array of vocalizations, green plants with only occasional powerful legs and large flat feet, including shrill screeches, coughs, nursing, and is fully weaned at with strong curved claws on each groans, chatters, whines, and low three months of age. The toe. The porcupine is short and grunts. porcupette is independent by the stout, which gives it a walking, age of six months and reaches armored ball appearance. It is Life Cycle sexual maturity around a year and slow moving, but agile enough to a half. climb trees. The porcupine is a solitary The more than 30,000 for most of the year. However, Food Items quills covering the rear portion of between September and the porcupine's body are specially December, it seeks out other Porcupines are herbivores, shaped for quick release. The porcupines for mating. The feeding on vegetation and the quills are up to three inches long, courtship ritual includes a variety bark of trees. It can do and have small barbs on the end, of strange vocalizations from both considerable damage to a so that when they stick in a the male and female as well as a commercial forest stand if its predator's skin, they need to be great deal of nose rubbing. Rival population becomes too high. pulled out, or they will slowly males may fight one another to Their diets vary from winter to work their way further into the determine who will mate with a summer based on food skin. The quill can go in about female. availability. Porcupines forage on one inch a day if it is not pulled After a gestation period of shrubs, crops, wild flowers, out, and if it eventually hits an seven months, one baby is born clover, leaves, acorns, tender Porcupine Fact Sheet 1 twigs, roots, seeds, buds, and When confronted, the Management Efforts leaves in spring and summer. In porcupine will place his nose winter, they eat needles and the between his front legs and spin Current porcupine bark of trees, such as hemlocks, around so that its tail end is facing populations within the state of birch, beech, aspen, elm, oak, the predator. If it is attacked, the Vermont are stable. There is no willow, spruce, fir, and pine. porcupine will strike its assailant active plan designed for this They have a natural desire for with its tail and the easily species, but continued monitoring salt, and will search for salt at detachable quills will become is conducted to ensure that their natural salt deposits and along embedded in the skin of the population remains healthy and roadsides. They will also gnaw attacker. A common abundant in Vermont. on the dropped antlers of deer for misconception is that the minerals. They have also porcupine has the ability to eject Illustration by Gustav Mützel developed a taste for plywood, or throw its quills, but this is not apparently fond of the taste of true. The quills are designed to glue. Other man made items they release when coming into contact often chew on include canoe with another animal. paddles, axe handles or any item that has been soaked in human Abundance perspiration over time. Porcupines are common in Habits & Habitat Vermont. Their population size can vary depending on food The porcupine is generally availability and habitat. found in coniferous forests, but may also frequent mixed or History deciduous stands in search of food. Each adult porcupine has a Historically, the porcupine home range of six to 14 acres in has always been present in size, depending on food Vermont. Throughout the availability. The porcupine tends changing landscape during the to stay in the same home range past 150 years, it has proven to be and reuses the same den year after an adaptable species that can year. It is solitary by nature but inhabit nearly any forest may den with other porcupines in environment. the winter. The porcupine does not Resource Utilization hibernate, but will stay in dens during bad weather. It may build Many people view the a nest but also might den in a porcupine as a nuisance or pest as hollow log or tree, rock ledge, they can do considerable damage abandoned burrow of another by their habit of gnawing on animal, under a stump or blown wood product. They can also down tree, or even under a damage crops and kill trees. building. It is primarily nocturnal, Some people however, consider mostly active at night, but does them edible and kill them for forage during the day. When not food. The quills are often used in seeking cover from the weather a variety of artwork and jewelry, orfishers, the porcupine spends particularly in Native American most of its time in the trees communities. feeding and resting. Porcupine Fact Sheet 2