North American Porcupine

Instantly recognizable by its prickly appearance and known for its [mistaken] reputation of throwing dangerous barbed quills toward would-be attackers, porcupines are perhaps simultaneously one of North America's most and least well-known mammals. How well do you actually know this large rodent of the forest? Read on to find out, and to learn the official term for baby porcupines (which is probably my favorite fun fact about this amazing creature)! Members of the order Rodentia, North American Porcupines ( Erethizon dorsatum ) are North America's second-largest rodent, after the American Beave