Who is our quilled friend with a big sense of generosity for the little guys? The answer is the Erethizon dorsatum, our North American Porcupine.Â
The Porcupine is a unique mammal that we rarely encounter due to its nocturnal behavior and usually individual state, but these large rodents are an important part of our ecosystem! Because porcupines typically feed on trees, they act as a conduit for nutrients to return to the soil. For instance, when they cut branches high up in trees, the cuttings fall to the ground. Their scat also contributes to the cycling of nutrients in the ecosystem.Â
The main diet of porcupines consists of pine nuts, acorns, bark, and conifers such as eastern hemlock, which is quite common in the Amherst area. Unfortunately, the Eastern hemlock has been suffering due to invasive woolly adelgid beetles, reducing the number of trees as there is no natural predator here for them. Without a stable winter source of food, it may be more difficult this year for female Porcupines in gestation to consume enough throughout the winter as the lengthy gestation period is 210 days, and many nuts will be covered with snow.
The gestation time for porcupines is about two hundred and ten days. A baby porcupine is known as a porcupette and remains with its mother for 5 months. At five months, males will stay within the area, and females will disperse to a new territory. Porcupettes are born with teeth and soft quills, which harden within the first week of life. Like beavers, porcupines must sharpen their teeth by chewing on hard materials like wood, and bones. Bones also may serve as a source of salt.
When might you interact with a porcupine? Porcupines need salt in their diet. As a result, you might see them eating salt off of roadside vegetation in the spring, following the salting of the roads in winter. Want to know if Porcupines are common in your area? Look at our sightings map for updates, or take a quick glance at this screenshot of just our Porcupine sighting reports.
