Instantly recognizable by their characteristic coat of sharp quills, porcupines are herbivorous rodents with a diet that varies significantly based on species, habitat, and season. These fascinating creatures, found on every continent except Antarctica, exhibit diverse feeding habits that are crucial to their survival. This article delves into the dietary preferences of porcupines, exploring the variations among different species and the adaptations that allow them to thrive in diverse environments.
Porcupine Basics: Old World vs. New World
There are 30 species of porcupines. These species are divided into two families: Hystricidae (Old World porcupines) and Erethizontidae (New World porcupines). Old World porcupines are found in Africa, Asia, and Southern Europe, while New World porcupines inhabit North and South America.
General Dietary Habits of Porcupines
Though there are exceptions, the vast majority of porcupine species are strict herbivores. As herbivores, porcupines eat fruits, leaves, roots, and bulbs. Their diets vary by region, species, and season, but popular staples include berries, nuts, seeds, leaves, grass, roots, and stems. Most porcupines are herbivores, though there are exceptions.
Porcupines eat what is readily available. Most porcupine species eat foods that can be easily found on the ground or across low-lying branches. Therefore, their diets typically change with the seasons.
Seasonal Variations in Diet
Porcupines are active year-round, and their diet shifts depending on the availability of food sources.
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet
Summer Diet
During the summer, porcupines consume a wide variety of vegetation including twigs, buds, leaves, roots, tubers, grass, berries, fruit, inner bark, and other vegetation. Apple trees are a favorite food source, as well as maple, oak, ash, and aspen.
Autumn Diet
In autumn, porcupines eat hard tree mast such as acorns, hickory nuts, and beechnuts. They don’t wait for their meal to fall to the ground; they climb into the tree, snip off a branch, and carefully extract the nut from the husk.
Winter Diet
In the wintertime, porcupines mainly feed on conifer needles and tree bark, preferring hemlock and white pine, and hardwood trees with thin, smooth bark.
Spring Diet
In springtime, when porcupines are the most sodium-depleted, they are drawn to salt-laden vegetation along the roadside.
The Diet of the North American Porcupine
The North American porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum, is a large rodent that is common in Utah and Massachusetts. It prefers coniferous forest and mixed forest areas, although it may also be found in wetlands, deserts, and shrub-land habitats. The North American porcupine is a true herbivore. North American porcupines eat clover, evergreen needles, skunk cabbage, fruits, twigs, leaves, bark, and buds.
Read also: Walnut Keto Guide
During spring and summer, their diet includes buds, twigs, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, berries, seeds, and nuts. In winter, evergreen needles and the cambium layer and inner bark of trees become important sources of food. Bones and antlers are gnawed upon for calcium and other minerals.
Dietary Habits of Old World Porcupines
Old World species are primarily terrestrial, although the long-tailed porcupine of Southeast Asia (Trichys fasciculata) also climbs in trees and shrubs for food. Old World porcupines (Hystricidae) have quills embedded in clusters, whereas in New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) single quills are interspersed with bristles, underfur, and hair.
African Bush-Tailed Porcupines
African Bush-Tailed Porcupines (Atherurus africanus) are herbivores that eat tree bark, fruits, leaves, nodules, and bulbs. They are also known to occasionally eat dead animal carcasses they stumble upon in the wild.
Asiatic Bush-Tailed Porcupines
Asiatic Bush-Tailed Porcupines (Atherurus macrourus) are smaller than their African counterparts. They also tend to be herbivores, primarily eating bamboo shoots, taro, fruits, and vegetables. This species may also scavenge animal horns and bones.
Sumatran Porcupines
Sumatran Porcupines (Hystrix sumatrae) are found exclusively in the tropical forests of the Sumatran Islands of Indonesia. This species eats fallen fruits, including mangoes and melons.
Read also: Weight Loss with Low-FODMAP
Dietary Adaptations and Behaviors
Porcupines have developed several adaptations to facilitate their herbivorous diet. Their strong jaws and sharp teeth enable them to gnaw through tough bark and extract nuts from their husks. To obtain trace minerals such as sodium and calcium and to sharpen their teeth, porcupines will often chew on bone.
Climbing Abilities
Porcupines are excellent climbers and spend much of their time in trees. They are also attracted to salt. On occasion, they can be attracted to the wood handles of tools, wheelbarrows and gloves because of salty sweat absorbed in those items. Due to the location of the tastiest parts of the tree (the outer limbs) it’s common for heavier porcupines to fall. In one study, healed fractures were found in 30% of porcupine skeletons. It’s common for them to feed on nearly all species of trees within their range.
Sodium Consumption
A porcupine’s need for salt can lead to undesirable interactions with people. Porcupines will chew on plywood structures, wooden tools, leather boots, and undercarriages of vehicles to satisfy this important biological need.
Interactions with Humans
Porcupines can cause damage to orchards, tree plantings, wood lots, and gardens. Valuable trees can be damaged and eventually killed by porcupine removal of bark around the trunk, making the tree more susceptible to disease, insects, and birds.
Prevention Methods
Commercial animal repellents have been used successfully to deter porcupines from damaging structures. Fencing can help prevent porcupine damage to trees and structures. Erect poultry fencing at least 18-inches high with an electric wire on top.
Conservation Status
The IUCN lists most Old World porcupines as species of least concern. The only exception is the Philippine porcupine (Hystrix pumila), a vulnerable species that inhabits the Philippine islands of Palawan and Busuanga. The IUCN lists the dwarf porcupine (Coendou speratus) as an endangered species and the bristle-spined rat, or bristle-spined porcupine (Chaetomys subspinosus), as a vulnerable species. Both porcupines live in forested habitats along Brazil’s Atlantic coast.