North American Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum)
Description:
Mid-sized stocky mammals up to three feet in length and 41 pounds in weight. Porcupines have thick bodies, round heads, short legs, feet adapted for climbing and a muscular tail. They are covered with up to 30,000 hollow, pointed modified hairs called quills. They also have stiff guard hairs which provide a valuable sense of touch and wooly underfur which provides warmth. Their color varies from yellowish to black. Habitat: Coniferous and deciduous forests (up to 70 feet high in trees). Range: Most of forested and mountainous North America, except the southeast. Diet: Buds, seeds, shoots, leaves, fungi, bark (especially inner tree bark). Life Span: Up to eleven years. Family Life: Porcupines are solitary. They mate in fall or early winter. A single offspring is born after a seven month gestation. The well-developed young weigh about 3 pounds at birth, climb trees in two days and become sexually mature in their second year. Status: Generally common but threatened regionally by habitat loss such as development and clear-cutting. |
Can you name a mammal that will gnaw on axe handles and baseball bats?
Answer: Erethizon Dorsatum: The North American Porcupine. North American Porcupines will gnaw on wooden hand tools, baseball bats and canoe paddles to extract salt from human perspiration. Other fun facts:
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