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| Porcupines are vegetarians. They eat tree bark and on spring evenings they eat grass. They also eat leaves, stems, fruits, seeds, roots, berries, nuts, and flowers in the summer. In the winter they eat bark and pine needles. Additionally they eat salt whenever they can find it. |
| Porcupines breed in the Fall or early Winter. The female porcupine is generally pregnant for seven mouths. One or two young are born with soft quills and eyes open about 10 days after mating. Their quills harden within the hour and they begin eating solid food after two weeks, but they continue to nurse for 4 or 5 months. Female porcupines can breed when they are 1 1/2 years old or older. Males can breed when they are 2 1/2 or older. |
| The average wild porcupine lives up to 6-7 years.
The average porcupine held in captivity lives 10 years. |
