Wonders of God’s Creation

Cute, but Not Cuddly!

Porcupines are docile creatures, but with a unique selfdefense system. They keep to themselves, try to avoid conflict and skitter away when confronted. But if threatened, they have an intimidating coat of 30,000 barbed quills, covering every part of their body except their belly and face. They can raise them up to become a porcupine pincushion and rattle them as a warning to potential predators. They clatter their teeth and emit an odor. But if that doesn’t work, they charge, backward, right into their attacker to impale it with multiple painful quill pricks. The quills are designed with barbs to stick fiercely into any unfortunate foe. Porcupines can’t throw their quills, as some believe, but the quills are loosely attached and painlessly pull out of the porcupine’s skin so it can make a getaway while the adversary deals with the consequences. Porcupines soon grow back any missing quills. The quills are coated with natural antibiotics, which might seem odd for a weapon. But porcupines are not immune to being stuck by their own quills—for example, when they fall out of trees. (This occurs more often than you might think. North American porcupines like climbing trees, but apparently aren’t very good at it.) At least the quills are medicated for their own safety! But porcupines are good swimmers, thanks in part to their hollow, air-filled quills, which provide them with the buoyancy of a permanent life jacket. And, thankfully for mommy porcupines, the quills of a porcupette (as a baby is called) are soft when it’s born. They begin to harden soon after birth to become the protective coat God designed them to be. Pictured: North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) Photo and text by James Capo