Common Porcupine
Erethizon dorsatum
- Class
- Mammal
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 20,063
- Most observed in
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The North American porcupine, also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family. It is the second largest rodent in North America after the North American beaver. The porcupine is a caviomorph rodent whose ancestors were believed to have crossed the Atlantic from Africa to Brazil 30 million years ago, and then migrated to North America during the Great American Interchange after the Isthmus of Panama rose 3 million years ago.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “North American porcupine”.