Porcupine

The porcupine is misunderstood because it is rumored that it shoots quills at you. It is also called a pest because it chews on canoe paddles and playground equipment out of its love for salt. The truth is it slaps you with a tail full of barbed quills. The quills hurt so bad because of the barbs at the end of them, which tears your skin not just slides out. Really they are quite cute little rodents if you take away the quills and their huge buck teeth. Also they only attack defensively. Really now do you believe in the quill shooting myth?

• 30,000 quills
• Very vocal: moans, grunts, coughs, wails, whines, shrieks and tooth clicks
• There were prehistoric porcupines
• The name porcupine comes from the French word: porc d’ epine
• It lives in Canada, Western U.S and Mexico
• There are up to 27 kinds of porcupines.

Bibliography:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/porcupine.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcupine

This picture was tooken by a team member and used with permission.