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Interesting facts about porcupines

— a-z-animals.com

PORCUPINES are among the largest rodents on earth. They have modified hair that is sharp for defensive purposes. These hairs are known as quills. Their size is not the only attribute that is large; they also have about 30 different species all over the world.

Porcupines may not look like it, but they are gentle animals with a quiet lifestyle. Also, their quill is more than just a weapon.

Porcupines are gentle solitary animals

Porcupines look like dangerous animals with numerous quills. However, these animals are very gentle and would only become aggressive in the face of an attack. They are nocturnal and tend to stay out of sight during the day.

A group of porcupines is called a prickle.

Porcupines love climbing trees

There are two main groups for all the species of porcupine. The first group is the Old World porcupines. The second group is the New World porcupines. There are a lot of differences when you compare these two groups. However, one difference that stands out is the New World porcupine’s love for climbing trees.

Porcupines die from falling off trees

The New World porcupines, indeed, have the habit of climbing trees. It is safe to say that this habit is unhealthy. Porcupines love climbing trees, but interestingly, they are not good tree climbers. They tend to fall quite often and fracture different parts of their skeleton when they fall. In more severe cases, porcupines come to their death because of the impact of falls from climbing trees.

During the fall, they often get injured or penetrated by their quills. But this is never a cause of death. How is that possible? The answer is truly incredible.

Quills possess natural antibiotics

It is a fantastic feat because there are few animals with such features. Natural antibiotics help them heal when their quills injure them and also prevents any infection. In essence, porcupines are safe from their quills.

Dropping quills at will

The quills are the main defensive feature of porcupines. A simple look at their physiology confirms this statement. However, a standard theory is that porcupines can shoot their quills at enemies. No, they cannot, but they can do something close to shooting. What is that? Porcupine quills might have borne no harm to them, but it remains dangerous and deadly to other animals. These mod ified hairs can pierce the body of a predator, causing pain.

The pain can last weeks as the quills move through the muscle. It is incredible to note that an animal can die long after encountering a porcupine. This death is due to the actions of the quills. One typical example is leopards that die from consuming porcupines because they fail to remove the quills properly.

Porcupines attack in reverse

Porcupines do not engage much in attacks because they spend the majority of their life eating leaves and living solitary lives. However, they have an incredible way of attacking predators. This way of attack starts with the porcupine doing everything possible to ward off predators.

Porcupines lose and grow quills easily

An adult porcupine, at any given time, has about 30 000 quills on its body. One interesting fact about these quills is that they are easily detachable. Once they come in contact with predators, they remove easily from the porcupine. It allows the porcupine to easily escape without being held to the predator by its quills.

To account for this ease, porcupines can grow new quills. Once they detach from the body, the animal starts to grow another in two days to replace the lost quills.

Female porcupines use sexual toys

The female porcupine’s sexual habit is also full of incredible acts and facts. They are among the few animals in the mammals world using various objects as sexual tools. Female porcupines can use sticks, twigs and other objects to stimulate their sexual organs.

That is one of the behaviours that become apparent during the mating season. They also have sounds that they make when calling out to male porcupines.

Porcupines are blind, but have good ears

A predator that can move ever so silently will find it easy to catch a porcupine. That is because porcupines have poor eyesight. It is perhaps one of the reasons why they are nocturnal animals. They always remain hidden during the day. However, to compensate for their poor sight, they have well-developed ears.

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2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

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