General Information

The North American porcupine was common throughout the northern parts of Ohio until the 1890s, when deforestation pushed them out of the area. Recently, there have been occasional sightings of porcupines in Northeast Ohio. Many people suspect that porcupines are moving back into Ohio from the neighboring state of Pennsylvania, where they are abundant.

North American porcupines prefer to live in forested areas. They spend their time hanging out in trees or in dens that they make out of hollow logs or rocky caverns. Since they are nocturnal, they mostly forage and are active during nighttime hours. However, they can occasionally be seen out during the day. The North American porcupine is the only porcupine species that lives in the United States and Canada. It is the second-largest rodent in North America (the largest is the beaver).

Male North American porcupines mate with many females and will fight with other males for a chance to breed with the female of their choice. To court a female, a male porcupine will first spray urine on the female to get her interested. When mating occurs, porcupines pull their skin tight and put their quills down to avoid hurting one another. Only one young porcupine, called a “porcupette,” is born each year, usually in April or May. Their quills are soft at birth, but they harden within the next few hours. A young porcupine will stay with its mother and nurse over the next few months. It will be on its own by 5 months of age.

Meet Our Porcupine

One North American porcupine, Lancelot, lives in the Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center & Woods Garden—Presented by KeyBank at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Lifespan

Wild: 5–7 years
Captivity: 15–20 years

Fun Facts

• North American porcupines are covered by more than 30,000 modified hairs called quills. They do not have the ability to “shoot” their quills. Instead, the quills are released when a porcupine brushes up against a predator. Each of these quills contains up to 800 barbs that help anchor the quill in a predator’s skin. These barbs also expand with heat. The longer a quill is embedded in an animal’s skin, the harder it is to remove.
• North American porcupines are nocturnal and primarily forage at night. However, they have very poor eyesight, so they use their great sense of smell to find most of their food.
• The North American porcupine is the only mammal native to North America that has antibiotics in its skin. These antibiotics help prevent infection if the porcupine quills itself when falling from a tree or other height.
• North American porcupines are herbivores. Their diet consists of twigs, bark, leaves, greenery, fruit, and vegetables.