North American Porcupine

It is Tuesday all day long and half the night and Tuesday as we all know is creature day this week we have the North American Porcupine.

It has a coat of prickly quills over its body a nice pointy warning that it’s not going to be easy prey, the needle like spines lay flat until it feels threatened when they pop up on command.

It is considered the largest of its species at a length of 1 metre which is 3.3feet and has more than 30,000 barbed quills. All naturally have a sharp tip which is difficult to remove once in the skin of a predator or silly human. All quills lost are soon replaced with a new one.

They are great climbers and spend a lot of time in trees, they use their front teeth to devour wood, bark and stems and have even been known to chew on canoe paddles.