The North American porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum, is a large rodent that is common in Utah. They can be found in mature forests, dwarfed pine thickets, or alder bushes. The North American Porcupine is best known for and made distinguishable by its spiny quills that cover its body. Some of them build dens on the ground. North American Porcupine Scientific Name: Erethizon dorsatum Diet - Herbivore. For majority of other porcupines, breeding occurs in fall, early winter. Diet. Range: The porcupine occurs in North America in a wide range. During the winter they primarily eat evergreen needles and tree bark. Only beavers are larger. After about 210 days of gestation, female gives birth to 1-2 babies. Their preferred food is the inner bark of hemlock and sugar maple trees, although they will dine on many other species. The North American porcupine is one of the largest rodents found in North America, coming second to the North America beaver. In North American porcupines, this starts at late summer through early fall. Trees are an important component of porcupine habitat, as are the shrubs and herbaceous vegetation underneath. During the summer and spring they tend to eat less, as more protein rich foods are available. After the beaver the the North Amerincan porcupine is the second largest rodent in North America. Observations of porcupines in recent years have become relatively uncommon and DFW is soliciting sightings from the public. Coyotes are smaller than their relative the grey wolf, yet can cause quite a lot of damage to domestic households and will prey on chickens and other birds. The North American porcupine is an herbivore. The North American Porcupine is an herbivore and sticks to a diet rich in herbs, leaves, twigs and green plants. North American Porcupines have a height of 12.6”-16.5” (32-42 cm), body length between 23.6”-35.4” (60-90 cm), and an overall weight in the range of 20-40 lb (9-18 kg). If the animal girdles a tree – chews all the way around the trunk, interrupting the flow of water and nutrients – the tree may end up deformed or dead. Habitat: Porcupines occupy a variety of habitat types. Diet. The North American Porcupine is found throughout forested regions of the United States. In the spring/summer porcupines eat berries, seeds, grasses, leaves, roots, and stems. The African Porcupine does not climb so it forages mostly on the ground, and is mostly nocturnal. Porcupines are often considered diet generalists, consuming a wide range of It is an herbivore and eats mainly twigs, leaves and other green plants. Porcupines are the largest and heaviest of all African rodents. This species is well known for its habit of feeding in winter primarily on the inner bark of boles, limbs, and branches, and on foliage of trees. They are herbivores. Lifespan In the winter, it may eat bark. It eats leaves, twigs, and green plants like skunk cabbage and clover. Porcupines eat leaves, buds and twigs of plants and bushes, as well as nuts, fruit and the inner bark of trees. A single animal may have 30,000 or more quills. North American porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) feast on a high-potassium, low-sodium diet of foliage, causing them to excrete high levels of sodium. Here at Discovery Kingdom we give Quillson, our North American Porcupine, a diet of leafy greens, mixed produce and a specialized rodent chow. The beaver is the only rodent in North America that is larger than the North American porcupine. The porcupine’s latin name, Erethizon dorsatum means “quill pig.” Porcupines are the second largest rodent in North America, with beavers as number one. Its Central and South American relatives can’t withstand the high variance in temperature tolerated by North American porcupines. It prefers coniferous forest and mixed forest areas, although it may also be found in wetlands, deserts, and shrub-land habitats. The slow-moving North American porcupine is Canada's second-largest rodent (beavers are larger). Related Articles . Overall, porcupines cause less forest damage than fires, winds, disease, and insects. Since porcupines live in so many different parts of North America, their diet depends on where they are living. with the tail adding 14.5 cm (5.5 in). They weigh between 5 and 14 kg, and are 600 to 900 mm long. Fast Facts: Porcupine. The penultimate chapter, in which the author rehabilitates an orphaned porcupine he names Musa, teaching her to climb trees and forage, show the scientific insights that come from such pursuits--such as the discovery of clay-eating in the porcupine diet--but also the pure joy and excitement of gaining a window into the world of the porcupine. North American porcupines are sexually dimorphic, with males being larger than females. Porcupines live up to 20 years in captivity. The head is roundish and rather domed, with a blunt muzzle and small eyes and ears. Porcupines are found throughout most of Alaska and Canada, in the northern part of the Great Lakes region, all throughout the west and northeast regions of the United States. The North American Porcupine is a well-protected, plant-eating rodent that spends much of its time in trees, looking for food. It often climbs trees to find food. Even with their formidable spiny defence the North American porcupine is preyed upon successfully by several predators including mountain lions and fishers. North American Porcupines live up to 18 … Weird Nature: An Owl That Uses Dung Tools By Matthew L. Miller Of “Pizzlies” and Goose … 1) is a wide-ranging herbivore occurring throughout much of North America, from Alaska to northern Mexico and from California to Maine (Woods 1973; Roze 2009). North American porcupines are some of the biggest rodents that come from North America, beaten out in size solely by beavers, according to the Woodland Park Zoo. The word “porcupine” comes from the French porc d’espine, which means thorny pig. In the winter it may also eat bark. The Porcupine looks most like a prickly beaver! Lifespan. It is mostly nocturnal, but sometimes forages for food in the day. North American Porcupines have a different diet to African Porcupines. This creates a sodium-potassium imbalance. It’s well documented in the literature, and it’s based on porcupine physiology. These slow-moving animals have sharp, needle-like quills protecting their body. They eat things like stems, twigs, berries, roots, and other vegetation. In spring and summer, when high protein foods are readily available, feeding rates are reduced and in the autumn, feeding rates increase in preparation for the winter food shortage. This species is a generalist herbivore whose diet varies throughout the year in response to small changes in plant chemistry. The legs are short and sturdy, and each foot has five toes, all equipped with powerful claws. The North American Porcupine is a specie from the Erethizon genus. Habitat of the Porcupine . They weigh between 12 and 25 pounds. The North American porcupine lives in coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forests. It is distributed throughout most of the timbered areas of North America. The North American porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum, is a large rodent found throughout much of the continent (Hall 1981). Physiology. The young ones are born with soft quills that take couple of hours to harden and they stay with their mothers for at least 6 months after birth. There are three species of porcupines designated as new world: the North American porcupine, the Brazilian porcupine, and the dwarf porcupine. In large males, the body may reach a length of 64.5 cm (25 in.) Another North American predator of the porcupine is the coyote, another versatile predator who can be found far and wide in the United States, constantly enlarging its territory. Family Life. In the northern and eastern portions of its range it inhabits boreal forest communities. Weight. The word porcupine means “quill pig” in Latin; however, porcupines are large rodents and have no relation to pigs. The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) has the most northerly range of all porcupines. North American porcupines are the second largest rodent in North America. The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum), also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large rodent in the New World porcupine family. A Thorny Name – Though this should be unsurprising, their characteristic quills are also the base of their name. The North American Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum), a common New World porcupine, is second in size behind the beaver as one of the largest rodents in North America. In the west, it is found in scrubby areas. se that determines endogenous urinary nitrogen but rather. The North American porcupine is the only species that lives in the U.S. and Canada, and is the largest of all porcupines. Males: 7-21 lbs Females: 7-21 lbs Males are larger than females. Porcupines are generally herbivorous, preferring to chow down on delicacies such as tree bark and roots but they are not too picky at all and some are not as innocent as you may think. Adult porcupines average 9–13 lbs. Porcupines are generalists, eating a wide range of plant material depending upon season. North American Porcupine ... A porcupine's natural diet consists of a variety of plant materials. Only the North American porcupines has adapted to the cold. New World and Old World porcupines occupy a wide range of habitats. A Porcupines Diet. nitrogen intake of the North American porcupine. They have long spiny barbed hairs or quills. To answer the question more specifically would mean looking into individual species and their geographical location. This type of porcupine mainly lives in trees. Scientific name: Erethizon dorsatum Average weight: 5.5 kg (male) 4.5 kg (female) Average height: 60 to 100 cm Average lifespan: 10 years or more. The general coat coloration for North American porcupines is black or deep brown. Porcupine winter dens may be found in hollow trees and logs, small caves and rock piles. Porcupines have a stout, slow, lumbering form and a spiny coat. However, the porcupine’s economic impact as a whole is equivocal, ranging from extensive in localized areas to negligible in others. Circles, diet 1 (n Å 15); squares, diet 2 (n Å 10); triangles, diet 3 (n Å 6). Did you know? When baby porcupines are born their quills are soft, but within an hour they harden. What does the North American Porcupine eat? In winter, much of their diet consists of needles, twigs and small limbs of evergreens, especially hemlocks. The prehensile-tailed porcupine, a relatively small species, is approximately 30 cm long and its weight is only 900 gm. Food and Feeding Behavior: The herbivorous porcupine specializes in a winter diet of the inner bark of trees which has earned it the wrath of forest managers. Average weights for males are 5.5 kg (12 lb.) This animal is usually found in coniferous and mixed forested areas in Canada, Alaska and much of the northern and western United States, although rare, sustainable, breeding populations of porcupines are known to exist in West Virginia and in smaller numbers in nearby regions of western Virginia. They usually appear dark brown to black, although some of the hairs and spines on the backs of these animals are yellow. The porcupine is one of the largest rodents in North America - only the beaver is larger. These New World porcupines usually weigh between 12 and 35 pounds, with full body lengths of between 25 and 36 inches. North American porcupines are known for having numerous, thin quills. These provide food and protection from predators. 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