Porcupines are members of the rodent family. Males can grow to be almost a meter long and weigh up to 16 kg. They are not very fast, but they don’t need to be because of their layers of protection.
Their name means “quill pig” in Latin, and that is what they are primarily known for. However, their quills are not their only line of defense.
Porcupines are well protected and are very difficult to kill, but that doesn’t mean that they are impossible to kill. Animals such as coyotes, cougars, bobcats, foxes, lynxes, bears, and even Great Horned Owls prey on porcupines. They kill them by flipping the porcupine over onto its back and then eating it.
So, how do porcupines defend themselves? There are six things that they do. The first thing is their camouflage. Porcupines are mostly nocturnal and their black and white coloring helps them blend into the background. Most nocturnal animals don’t have very good color vision and porcupines are hard to see.
Secondly, when first threatened, they raise their quills. This makes them look much larger than they are and shows the predator that they will not be easy prey. Not only that, but when their quills are raised, they have a white strip down the middle that makes them look like a skunk. Skunks have very few predators, for obvious reasons, and this protects the porcupine.
Thirdly, they start to chatter their teeth, which makes a noise that deters predators. And, fourthly, they shiver their bodies at the same time they chatter their teeth. Some of their quills are hollow and rattle against each other, making the porcupine appear even more fearsome.
Fifthly, they can release an unpleasant odor from the skin just above their tail. This aroma is said to be between sweat and urine. It warns other animals to steer clear.
Sixthly, they turn their backs towards whatever is trying to attack them. As long as they can keep their quills pointing towards the enemy, they are going to be safe. And, lastly, they attack. If there is no option left, they run sideways or backwards towards the predator. Obviously, they want to run with their quills pointing towards the attacker. They can swing their tail, which is covered in even more quills, as well. If they can hit the attacker with these quills, they can injure and even kill it.
The quills of a porcupine are barbed at the end, so once they go in, they are very difficult to take out. Even humans, with opposable thumbs, don’t find them that easy to extract. The quills are basically modified hairs coated with thick plates of keratin. Keratin is the fibrous protein that makes our nails. They are about 30 cm long and usually lie flat along the porcupine’s back. They have muscles at the base of each quill that they can contract and make the quills stand up. These are the same muscles that we still have that give us goosebumps.
The end of the quill is as fine as a needle, so it enters the flesh of the animal very easily. Then, when the animal jerks away, the microscopic barbs at the end of the quill stop it from coming out and the motion pulls the quill out of the porcupine. The quills are not very deeply seated in the porcupine’s skin, so they come out fairly easily.
When quills are pulled out, they regrow very quickly. They are made of hair, and they grow just as quickly as hair. Once they
reach a certain length, the bottom of the root seals off, so there is no bleeding when they are pulled out. A porcupine’s coat is made of a mix of longer quills and shorter, younger quills. They have up to 30,000 quills on their back and they molt in the same way that all animals molt their hair. They have finer, shorter quills by their head, going back to longer, sturdier quills by their tail.
If you do happen to get stuck by a porcupine quill, or more likely your dog, then the best thing to do is just pull them out. The barbs hold them in, but not enough that a good pull can’t get them out. The trick is to pull them straight out without twisting so that the quill itself doesn’t snap and stay buried in the skin.
So, we believe that porcupines can shoot their quills over a fairly long distance, but in actual fact, they can’t shoot their quills at all. Their quills are barbed and get hooked into an animal’s flesh very easily. When the animal jerks away, it looks like the quill has been shot, but the animal has just pulled it away. And that is what I learned today.
Photo by Anca Silvia Orosz: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-a-porcupine-5030891/
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcupine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spine_(zoology)
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/porcupines
https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/can-porcupines-shoot-their-quills
https://nature.ca/notebooks/english/amporcu.htm
https://vtfishandwildlife.com/learn-more/vermont-critters/mammals/porcupine
https://zooecomuseum.ca/en/articles/5-fun-facts-about-the-american-porcupine/
https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/porcupine
https://animals.mom.com/porcupines-quills-grow-back-10125.html