porcupines

Everyday

1. Porcupines are more than one porcupine: large rodents covered in long sharp quills that protect them from predators. tree →
2. There are New World porcupines, which climb trees in the Americas, and Old World porcupines, which live on the ground in Africa, Asia and southern Europe. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons about adaptations and defence, porcupines show how animals protect themselves: their quills come loose and stick in an attacker. They eat plants, bark and fruit, and they are mostly active at night. In stories porcupines are prickly or shy characters. Phrases: a family of porcupines, porcupines' quills.

Examples

• Porcupines are covered in thousands of sharp quills. tree →
• Porcupines are mostly awake at night. tree →
• In winter, North American porcupines chew tree bark. tree →
• Porcupines rattle their quills to warn enemies. tree →
• Young porcupines are called porcupettes. tree →
• Wolves usually leave porcupines alone. tree →
• Porcupines are good at climbing trees. tree →
• We made porcupines out of clay and cocktail sticks. tree →

Note

This is the plural form; the singular is «porcupine». Possessive plural: «the porcupines' quills» (apostrophe after the s). Myth: porcupines cannot shoot their quills. Porcupines are rodents, unlike hedgehogs and echidnas, which also have spines.