Erethizon dorsatum Canadian Porcupine is a large rodent in the New World porcupine family. The Beaver is the only other rodent l
Erethizon dorsatum Canadian Porcupine is a large rodent in the New World porcupine family. The Beaver is the only other rodent larger than the North American Porcupine found in North America. The porcupine is a cavimorph rodent whose ancestors rafted across the Atlantic from Africa to Brazil over 30 million years ago, and then invaded North America during the Great American Interchange after the Isthmus of Panama rose 3 million years ago. This animal is usually found in coniferous and mixed forested areas in Canada, Alaska and much of the northern and western United States. They are also found in thicketed areas in shrublands, tundra and deserts as far south as northern Mexico. It makes its den in a hole in a tree or in a rocky area. Porcupines are usually dark brown or black in colour, with white highlights. They have a chunky body, a small face, short legs and a short thick tail. Their upper parts are covered with thousands of sharp, barbed hollow spines or quills, which are used for defense. Porcupines do not throw their quills, but the quills detach easily and the barbs make them difficult to remove once lodged in an attacker. The quills are normally flattened against the body unless the animal is disturbed. The porcupine also swings its quilled tail towards a perceived threat. Porcupines are nearsighted and slow-moving. Porcupines are selective in their eating; out of 1000 trees in the Catskill forest, one or two are acceptable lindens, and one is a bigtooth aspen. Consequently, the porcupine has "an extraordinary ability to learn complex mazes and to remember them as much as a hundred days afterward". The porcupine is the only native North American mammal with antibiotics in its skin. Those antibiotics prevent infection when a porcupine falls out of a tree and is stuck with its own quills upon hitting the ground. Porcupines fall out of trees fairly often because they are highly tempted by the tender buds and twigs at the ends of the branches. The po
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