Hobbies And Interests
Birth
Pregnancy in porcupines usually lasts around seven months. The baby porcupine, or "porcupette," is almost always born head first in order to protect the mother from the quills. The porcupette's quills are soft at first, but within a few minutes of being exposed to the air they start to harden. Porcupettes develop very quickly, almost immediately having full use of their eyes, and are ready to move onto solid food within two weeks of birth.
Independence
At t2months old, a porcupine is ready to leave the nest. A fully-grown adult porcupine is about 20 inches from snout to rear and weighs between 10 and 30 lb. Adults are covered in over 30,000 sharp, detachable spines. They are extremely versatile creatures, found in both forested and unforested land and at sea level. Their diet mainly consists of tree bark and shrubs. Porcupines forage at night and find most of their food by climbing trees.
Breeding
Porcupines breed in late autumn or early winter. Females select a piece of territory to defend from other females. The female porcupine releases a strong scent and a distinctive call. The males will fight to gain the right to mate with the female porcupine, and a male porcupine will defend its mate from other males for up to four days after copulation. The male porcupine mate with several different females, and usually its territory will expand as it gets older and stronger.
Death
Wild porcupines usually live on average about seven years and at most up to 10 years. Despite the porcupine's formidable spines, there are many predators that can shorten the porcupine's life-span. Fishers, which are a particularly large species of weasel, are the main enemy of the porcupine. In addition, owls, wild dogs and wildcats have been known to hunt porcupines. In captivity, away from these dangers, porcupines can live up to 20 years.