north american porcupine

The North American Porcupine

By: Karen McElmurry,
Executive Director, CFW

The porcupine Erithizon dorsatum is one of the largest and most intriguing rodents inhabiting our Maine woods. The more I learn about this docile, gentle and often trusting animal, the more I realize how little most people know about this rodent. The porcupine is a slow moving animal with poor eyesight and very few predators. The Latin porcus, meaning “pig”, and spina, meaning “thorns”, refers to the 30,000 quills that work as the porcupine’s chief defense.

north american porcupine

Porcupines are unable to shoot their quills despite the number of people who say they can, however, they will turn their backs in defense and raise those barbed weapons should a predator or curious dog get too close. One swipe of that tail can send hundreds of quills into the skin that will soon start to move deeper with every movement and attempt to get them out. In the northeast, the fisher appears to be the worst enemy of the porcupine attacking face first or belly up where there are no quills. Coyotes and great horned owls are also known for attempting to prey on porcupines but many of these attacks are fatal for the predator. Besides predators, one of the porcupine’s worst enemies is the ubiquitous automobile. Like all wildlife, the porcupine uses the roadways to cross from habitat to habitat, and this slow moving mammal is often injured or killed by collisions.

north american porcupineMost of the porcupines brought to the Center for Wildlife have been injured or killed by collisions with cars, often arriving with fractures and very serious abrasions. These injuries are typically very difficult to treat due to the nature of the porcupine’s external covering. We also receive baby porcupines that have been orphaned after a mother is hit by a car. The baby will usually stay with its mother until noticed by a passer by. We have had very good success raising young porcupines and returning them back to the wild once they have mastered climbing and foraging on a variety of cut branches.

The exception is this porcupine (see photo) who got very used to humans and never seemed to “wild up”. Because this baby came to us in July where typically we receive them in May, we decided to over winter him with hopes that he would sexually mature and detach from people. This did not happen, and we have made the decision to incorporate this wonderful mammal "Quilliam" into our education programs.


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