The SOUTH AFRICAN PORCUPINE Page

Order:Rodentia, Family: Hystricidas

This African map shows where they live (the brown area).
Both the male and female African Porcupines weigh from 18 to 30 kg (about 40 to 60 pounds) and are about two feet long. When the porcupine is tired, it grunts and raises it's black and white quills. There is one case of a tiger almost killed by a porcupine.
Porcupines travel alone or in small family groups.

Normally they sleep in the day and feed at night on fruit, roots, bulbs, little mammals, rodents and ill-mannered children.

 The mama porcupine is pregnant for about three months and has 1 to 4 baby porcupines. The adults mate very carefully.

The babies have soft quills but by ten days, their quills are nasty hard and sharp.
Unlike in the cartoons, porcupines cannot throw their quills (up to 15 inches long).

Normally, a porcupine's quills lay flat on its back. But when danger approaches, they raise the quills on the back and tail, making them vibrate and sound scary.

 If the sound doesn't scare the predator, the quills may stick in the bad guy's flesh when they attack the porcupine.

Later, new quills grow to replace the lost quills stuck in some poor animal.
Jamie and Douglas would like to thank the following web sites for their porcupine information:
Africa Online's African Porcupine page
The Daytona News-Journal has a nice article about baby porcupines.
An Italian web site featuring a "virtual zoo" with a special Arican Porcupine page
The Planet Pets web site.
Exotic Adoptions may even sell you an African Porcupine
They don't have porcupine on the menu but Norwood's Restaurant serves fantastic fresh seafood and scrumptious onion rings.

Chalet Ermina is an idyllic bed and breakfast nestled in the Swiss Alpes.

If you like this porcupine page, you should visit my Queen Termite, K12 email, River Otter, lovely sister's Florida Map, or our page.