PORCUPINES

BACKGROUND

• Rodents
• Quills
• Inhabit America, Southern Asia, Europe, and Africa

SIZE

• Third largest of the Rodent family
• Between 25-36 inches in length
• Weigh 13-36 pounds

FOOD

• Herbivore
• Leaves, herbs, plants
• In the winter Porcupines eat bark.

HABITAT

• Tropical and temperate places
• Forests, desserts, rocky hills
• Very few live in trees
• Nocturnal

QUILLS

• Various forms
• Modified hairs
• Embedded in the skin
• Clusters

QUILLS

• Released with contact
• May come off when they shake their bodies
• Can not throw them
• A foot long

USES

• Food source
• Quills are decorative items
• Quills are used for a hypodermic needle
• Penetrate the skin, stay in place

RANDOM STUFF THAT YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW

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• Latin name meens quill pig
• Soft hair
• Mammal
• 30,000

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• Many different species
• One to four babies
• Soft quills when they are born
• Start to live on their own in two months

PORCUPINE ATTACKS

• A bulldog had 500 quills in her face and feet
• Still has quills in her
• Rushed to the Emergency room where the doctor/vet pulled them out

RECOURSES

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2184566/Bulldog-Bella-Mae-500-quill...
• http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/porcupine/