Prickly Porcupines

The cute, but not-so-cuddly, North American porcupine is one of the largest rodents on earth. Porcupines are great at climbing and love spending time up in trees. They have tough claws for gripping bark and a powerful tail to help support themselves as they climb. But the main thing that porcupines are known for are their quills. The quills are made of keratin, the same material found in your hair and nails. Each quill has around 700 to 800 tiny barbs on the end. These barbs help the quills easily hook into a predator’s skin and make them painful to remove.

Colorado State University Libraries, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Porcupines are slow and can’t see things very well from far away. They would be easy prey if they didn’t have some sort of protection. Of course, when God first created the world, things were perfect and creatures didn’t need protection. But after the fall, when sin and death entered creation, many animals started eating other animals. It’s amazing how God has designed critters with the ability to survive in a fallen world, and it shows how much he cares for his creation!

Fun Facts

• Porcupine means “quill pig” in the original Latin.
• Porcupines have over 30,000 quills! They have quills only on their back, mixed in with some soft hair.
• Porcupines can’t shoot their quills, but they will point them in the air and swish their tail at anything that gets too close.

Hi, I’m Peter Schriemer.

As a wildlife educator and TV host, I get excited about tracking down God’s creatures! Join my adventures on the Answers TV show Hike & Seek.