63. Porcupines

I've only ever seen a porcupine once in the wild, forty-four years ago—on our honeymoon, when we camped our way up through Utah (where we spotted this amazing creature), to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, then back down through Washington and Oregon. Great trip! 

The porcupine we saw was a North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum, the genus name coming from the Greek for "to irritate," the full name meaning, loosely, "the animal with the irritating back"). It is the second-largest rodent—yes, it's a rodent—of North America (after the beaver), reaching 3 feet in length (plus a foot-long tail) and some 20 pounds in weight. 

What brought this animal to mind was an orange-spined hairy dwarf porcupine that the photographer of vanishing animals Joel Sartore posted on FB. He photographed it near Rio de Janeiro and comments that this species, Sphiggurus villosus, is "found throughout parts of South America [and] occurs in a wide range of habitats including tropical savannahs, wetlands, and rainforests. They are most active at night, and are sometimes spotted near human communities." These cute creatures are up to 18 inches long (plus tail, which is almost as long) and weigh up to 5.5 pounds. 

And that's just two of the 29 species of porcupine: 17 in the New World, 11 in the Old, and I don't know where that other species lives. Not Antarctica, that much is sure. (I'm just googling, and when one googles the natural world, the results are invariably all over the place. These numbers are from Wikipedia, and clearly no one did the math.) There are two families, the Erezithontidae, in North and South America, and the Hystricidae, in southern Europe, Africa, and Asia. Each family has three genera. The two families are only distantly related, but are classified within the same infraorder (Hystricognathi) of Rodentia (along with various other rodents such as mole rats—naked and otherwise—agoutis, chinchillas, and guinea pigs), their commonality being the unique bone structure of their skulls. 

The largest porcupine is the crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata), found from Italy into sub-Saharan Africa. It weighs up to 60 pounds. The longest of its quills are 14 inches long, and when it shakes them it produces a hissing sound like a rattlesnake. It's also the second-longest-living rodent (after the naked mole rat), living up to 28 years (the mole rat: 37).

The smallest is the Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine (Coendou roosmalenorum), an arboreal species that lives chiefly in the Madeira biogeographical province of northern Brazil. "Squirrel-sized," it weighs a little over 2 pounds. Only a few sightings are confirmed. 

Here is Rico, a Brazilian porcupine (Coendou prehensilis) who was a favorite of visitors at the Cincinnati Zoo. Sadly, he died this spring after a short illness from a liver infection, age 8.

And because it's impossible to get too much of Rico, here's a demonstration of his prehensile tail—and more!

Finally, in case you were wondering, the name porcupine comes, via Latin porcus 'pig' + spina 'spine, quill', from Old Italian porcospino, 'thorn-pig'. Well named! As is the German Stachelschwein, basically the same meaning. Porcospino. Stachelschwein. I may be muttering these two words under my breath for the next few days, until I find something new to fascinate me...

And finally, porcupines and hedgehogs are not related. Don't get me started. 

P.S. Yes, two posts today, because heck—I can make it to 100 by the end of the year. I can do it! (I shoulda included my book reports in the numbered posts. What was I thinking?)

P.P.S. Yes, I might just have to do a post that features the naked mole rat. 

P.P.P.S. And one on the hedgehog, of which there are 17 species—good grief, who knew?