“Happy World Porcupine Day! For those wondering what a baby porcupine is called, it’s a porcupette. For those wondering what a group of porcupines is called, it’s a prickle. And for those wondering what porcupines sound like, turn up your volume” for a porcupine named “Kemosabe nomming on a banana,” says an English writer.
“And if you’re wondering what noise Kemosabe makes when he has his tummy prodded, it’s the same noise all of us make…”
The word for porcupine in Afrikaans — South Africa’s third most commonly spoken language — means ‘iron pig’ (the word is “ystervark”). The “Dutch word for a porcupine is stekelvarken (literally ‘spike pig’). The Russian word for a porcupine is дикобраз, which you could translate as ‘weird-looking.’ And the Polish word for a porcupine, jeżozwierz, means ‘hedgehog beast.’”
The word for porcupine in Mandarin (China’s primary language) is 豪豬, which “could be translated as ‘luxury pig’ or ‘grand swine.’ But the translation I tend to favour is ‘heroic hog’”.
There are big genetic differences between Old World porcupines and New World porcupines, which evolved separately from very different animals:
Although all porcupines look similar, they actually belong to two completely different families—Old World porcupines (Hystricidae), which live in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and New World porcupines (Erethizontidae), which are common in North and South America. Despite their similar appearance, these families are not close relatives—this is an example of convergent evolution, where different species adapt to the same environmental conditions in the same way. In nature, there are more than 20 species of porcupines.
Porcupines are nocturnal travelers, but sometimes they can be seen during the day.
“These herbivore mammals are highly recognizable by their coat of needle-like quills that remind predators not to mess with them! The sharp quills detach easily when touched but are replaced quickly after losing them. A single animal may have 30,000 or more quills! About two dozen species are scattered around North and South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Some are good climbers and spend much of their time in trees, eating natural bark and stems, while others eat fruit, leaves, and springtime buds, usually living on the ground and inhabiting deserts, grasslands, and forests.”
