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Porcupines are large , slowly - move rodent with shrewd quills on their backs . They are found on every continent except Antarctica . Scientists group porcupines into two groups : Old World porcupine ball , which are find in Africa , Europe and Asia ; and New World porcupines , which are found in North , Central , and South America . The North American hedgehog is the only species found in the United States and Canada .
Sharp quills
All hedgehog have a few traits in unwashed . The most obvious trait is the long , sharp quills that shroud their bodies . Some quills can get up to a base ( 30 centimeter ) long , like those on the Africa ’s crested hedgehog , accord toNational Geographic .
Porcupines use the quills as a defense . They make shake them , which gain them rattle , as a admonition to likely predators . If that does n’t ferment , they may charge backwards into the predator . The quill pen are loosely sequester but can not be thrown or projected , according to theAnimal Diversity entanglement . Some quills have scale or barbs that make them very hard to absent . Once a shaft is fall back , it is n’t lost forever . They grow back over fourth dimension . A North American hedgehog can have 30,000 or more quills , according to National Geographic .
Size
The largest porcupine is the North African cap hedgehog . It grows up to 36 inch ( 90 centimeters ) long . The small is the Bahia hairy gnome porcupine . It grows up to 15 inches ( 38 curium ) long . Porcupines matter 2.5 to 77 lbs . ( 1.2 to 35 kilograms ) , count on species , and their tail can grow up to 8 to 12 inches ( 20 to 30 curium ) , fit in to theSan Diego Zoo .
The length of quills alter by type . New World porcupines have small quills that are around 4 inches ( 10 cm ) long , while Old World porcupines have shaft that can grow up to 20 inches ( 51 centimeter ) long , though there are some elision .
Habitat
In general , porcupines experience in just about any terrain , including desert , grasslands , mountains , rainforests and timberland . Dens in tree outgrowth or tangles of roots , rock cranny , brush or log are the porcupine ’s home .
Habits
Porcupines are nocturnal , which means they are alive during the nighttime and eternal rest during the day . During the nighttime , they forage for food . New World porcupine expend their time in the trees , while Old World porcupines outride on the earth .
Porcupines are n’t really social . Both type of porcupine ball are typically lonesome , though New World porcupines may pair up . A mother and her untested is moot a home mathematical group called a prickle .
Diet
hedgehog are herbivore . This mean they eat mostly botany . Some porcupines love wood and eat a mickle of bark and stems . They also use up ball , genus Tuber , seed , pot , leaves , yield and bud .
Though they do n’t eat meat , porcupine chew on bones to sharpen their tooth . Bones also give them crucial mineral , like Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and atomic number 20 , to keep them goodly . Porcupines are also make out to feed germ and belittled lizards every now and then .
Offspring
Female porcupines carry their young for a gestation period of 16 to 31 week , bet on species , and give birth to one to three babies at a time . Baby porcupines are called porcupettes .
Porcupettes are about 3 percent of mother ’s weightiness at birthing , according to the San Diego Zoo . At birth , they have soft quills , which inure in a few days . Porcupettes age at 9 calendar month to 2.5 years , depending on species and can live on up to 15 class in the wild .
Classification/taxonomy
New World porcupines make up the Erethizontidae family , which comprises four genera and 12 species . There are 11 species , in three genus , of Old World porcupines in the Hystricidae family .
This is the classification of the North American hedgehog , according toIntegrated Taxonomic Information System(ITIS ):
Kingdom : AnimaliaSubkingdom : BilateriaInfrakingdom : DeuterostomiaPhylum : ChordataSubphylum : VertebrataInfraphylum : GnathostomataSuperclass : TetrapodaClass : MammaliaSubclass : TheriaInfraclass : EutheriaOrder : RodentiaSuborder : HystricomorphaInfraorder : HystricognathiFamily : ErethizontidaeSubfamily : ErethizontinaeGenus : ErethizonSpecies : Erethizon dorsatus , with seven subspecies
The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is the second-largest rodent in North America, beat out only by the beaver, according to the University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology.
Conservation status
porcupine ball are listed as least worry or as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) , depending on the species . Species listed as vulnerable include thePhillipine porcupineand thebristle - birl porcupine . There are currently no species listed as endangered , though some species do n’t have enough data to come to decision on its status .
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