Description:  Porcupines are also called “quill pigs”.  They are short, fat, and covered with as many as 30,000 spiny quills.  Balloons probably aren’t a good idea for a baby porcupine’s birthday party!

Habitat:  They live in the deciduous and coniferous forests of North America and Canada.  They are more common in the north.  Porcupines often live in trees (the technical term would be arboreal).

Diet:  Porcupines are herbivores; that means that they eat plants.  In fact, porcupines eat a variety trees, shrubs and other plants.  In the winter they will eat the inner bark of trees.  Their favorites are hemlock.

Reproduction: Females maintain a territory, and defend it against other females; however male territories typically overlap those of several females. The territories of dominant males rarely overlap. Breeding occurs in October and November. Gestation in this species is 210 days, after which a female gives birth to a single offspring. Newborns weigh between 400 and 530 g. Young are nursed for about 127 days. They become independent of their mothers at approximately 5 months of age, but are not sexual mature until the age of 25 months for females, and 29 months for males. Porcupines are relatively long-lived animals that can live up to 18 years in the wild.

Trivia: 

Contrary to popular myth, porcupines cannot shoot their quills.

Porcupine quills are hollow and have spines on the end that make them hard to pull out.  If you cut them in half, they are much easier to pull out.