Wildlife Spotlight: North American Porcupines

What looks like a beaver but is a little spikier? Porcupines, of course! While exploring our parks, you may have spotted evidence showing one of these prickly animals has been there recently.

Porcupines are large, slow-moving rodents with sharp quills on their backs and tails. The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is the second biggest rodent in North America, just behind Canada’s national icon, the North American beaver (Castor canadensis).

They live and travel across the Credit River Watershed but aren’t the easiest animals to spot since they are usually up in trees. However, they definitely leave signs of their presence and bringing a pair of binoculars on your next hike may grant you the chance to see one!

An Armour of Quills

All porcupines have a few traits in common. The most recognizable is their body of armour, a coat of quills.

On average, porcupines have 30,000 or more quills! When they lose quills, they regrow like hair.

These quills are their best defence mechanism. They often lash their tails around in defence from predators. Quills do not launch like projectiles at their enemies; instead, they dislodge in the skin of predators because they are loosely attached.

Some quills have barbs near the pointy tip. The barbs are typically rough to the touch until they become wet, such as when they penetrate flesh. In those circumstances, the barbs will expand and swell, working the quills deeper into the skin, making them harder to remove. Ouch!

What’s on the Menu?

Porcupines live up to their reputation of chewing various objects, such as antlers and trees. They have two large front teeth that continue to grow throughout their lifetime. They use these teeth for gnawing, helping to grind the teeth down to the perfect size.

Their diet can consist of different foods depending on the season. In winter their diet includes tree bark from trees like hemlock and white pine. When sugar maple sap runs, they may turn to sweet sugar maple. In the growing season, they will eat various herbs and leaves, from plants such as currants, roses, apples, violets, dandelions and milkweeds. They have even been documented to swim for water-lilies! In the fall, they eat beechnuts and acorns. Since porcupines aren’t picky eaters, they don’t heavily impact plant species, but keep things manageable for all species to thrive. Their flexible eating habits allow them to adapt and contribute to biodiversity.

Big Teeth, Bigger Impact

Sometimes porcupines’ eating habits of chewing tree bark can wound and kill the tree, but this is not always a bad thing. In moderation, it provides physical and functional diversity in forests, enhancing habitats for many organisms. All life in the watershed, big and small, can reap the rewards!

When there are too many trees in a plantation, porcupines help by:

• Chewing trees and tree limbs, allowing light in for shorter vegetation to thrive.
• Creating cavities for nesting or sheltering wildlife in dead tree limbs and stems.
• Providing shelter and food for ground-dwelling insects and animals, like salamanders, in fallen snags and branches.
• Appealing some birds to build their nests in the deformed trees wounded by porcupines.

The Life of a Porcupine

Porcupines are nocturnal, meaning they sleep during the day and are active at night. This is why you may miss spotting a porcupine during one of your visits to our parks.

Breeding and Birth

Mating season for porcupines starts around September until November. Mating sounds include loud screams, barks, whines, moans or grunts. Do not fret, porcupines are just noisy during mating.

Listen to these porcupine vocalizations recorded by CVC staff.

In the months of April to June, porcupines give birth. Baby porcupines, or porcupettes, are precocial, meaning they can feed themselves almost immediately after birth and can climb trees less than a week after birth. Mother porcupines leave their young alone for longer and longer periods of time, starting at about two weeks old. By the fall, porcupettes become completely independent. Possibly the cutest fact is that a mother and her porcupettes, or babies, are called a prickle!

Home Sweet Home

Porcupines make their homes, or dens in tree branches or tangles of roots, rock crevices, brush and logs. These shelters protect porcupines from snow and rain, but they do not use them for hibernation during winter like other animals.  

Look Out on the Roads, Especially During Colder Months

Colder months are when porcupines are most vulnerable to cars. Salted roads are like magnets for porcupines because they lick up the salt.

When a car approaches, their predator response includes freezing and raising their quills, putting them at a high risk of getting hit. Porcupine’s nocturnal nature, lack of speed and short-sightedness also contributes to them being hit. Keep your eyes out for these spiky friends on the road, particularly at night and in the colder months. Help keep them safe so they can thrive alongside us in the Credit River Watershed!

Piece of the Natural Puzzle

Porcupines are an important piece that contributes to the health of our watershed. Learn more about our Natural Heritage Inventory team that collects data on wildlife species in the Credit River Watershed. This data will inform strategies that protect and restore local ecosystems that wildlife depends on.

Have you seen a porcupine? Share your photos with us and don’t forget to tag us in your posts on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and X.

By Sarah Lebret, Associate, Marketing and Communications