Their favorite food item is corn on the cob. They also get browse several days a week and chew on the tree bark in their exhibit. Breeding season is fall and early winter.
They conduct an elaborate courtship involving extensive vocalizations, a courtship dance, and the male usually showers the female with urine before mating. Gestation lasts to days. There is generally one porcupette per litter—twins are rare. While not threatened, hunting by humans has caused populations to decline. Porcupines are targeted by the timber and agriculture industry due to certain destructive behaviors.
Skip to main content. Entry passes are required for all guests, including infants. All visitors ages 2 and older are required to wear a mask in all indoor spaces at the Zoo, regardless of their vaccination status. Fully vaccinated visitors do not need to wear a mask in outdoor areas. Great Cats. North American porcupine. Share this page:. Fact sheet Conservation Physical Description Their fur ranges in color from brownish-yellow to black, and they sport white highlights in their quills.
Solutions to conflicts with porcupines include tolerance, fencing and repellents. Attaching a motion sensor to a sprinkler will encourage porcupines to move on as well.
If you need to protect trees from being chewed, you can place a metal band around the trunk of the tree, about 3 feet off of the ground. This will keep the tree from being climbed and the bark stripped. This band should not be left on the tree longer than necessary because insects may accumulate and lay eggs under it. If you are protecting a fruit-bearing tree during the winter, it is important that the band is placed 3 feet above the expected maximum level of snow. Porcupines do not carry any communicable diseases that are of concern to humans, except, as with any mammal, they can contract rabies.
The main safety issue is the possibility of being quilled. A veterinarian should treat pets that have had a run-in with a porcupine. Humans who have embedded quills should consult a physician immediately. Privacy Search Site. More Ways to Donate From an online gift to a charitable gift annuity, your contribution will have a significant impact in the lives of thousands of animals.
Learn More. About Porcupines. Publications Annual Reports. Connect With Us. They live in dens found in rock piles, caves, fallen logs and trees. Generally, they stay close to home leaving their dens for food — porcupines eat a variety of shrubs, bark, water plants and they love anything salty.
It will tuck its head in, lean forward and thump its back feet while swinging its tail as a warning. Sometimes loose quills fly out of the tail or if a predator tries to get too close, the quills will stick them. The quills are an amazing defense mechanism — when they get lodged in the skin, body heat makes the barbs swell, making it even harder and more painful to pull them out. Animals like bears, bobcats, lynx , wolves and coyotes have also been known to be big predators, but the biggest of them all is the fisher.
Porcupines are found all across North America. Between Canada and the United States, they live in a variety of areas that include forests, tundra, grasslands and semi-desert. Download a printable version of this page. View the discussion thread. The RCGS acknowledges that its offices are located on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Peoples, who have been guardians of, and in relationship with, these lands for thousands of years.
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