North American Porcupine Skull

$91.00

The most distinguishing feature of the porcupine is its coat of quills. An adult porcupine has about 30,000 quills that cover all of its body except its underbelly, face, and feet.

Description

North American Porcupine Skull Replica measures 4.7x3x3. The North American Porcupine Skull is museum quality polyurethane cast. 2-part skull (separate cranium & jaw). Made in USA. Our precise skull can be used as a teaching tool, museum skull exhibit, home décor skull, or office décor skull.

North American porcupine or Erethizon doprsatum is an herbivore that it eats leaves, herbs, twigs, and green plants such as clover. In the winter, it may eat bark. It often climbs trees to find food.

North American porcupine or Erethizon doprsatum are distinguished by its stout, slow, lumbering form and by its spiny coat. Porcupines appear dark brown to black, with dorsal guard hairs and spines that contain bands of yellow. Spines called quills extend from head to tail on the dorsal surface.

The middle of the tail and lower back are marked by a black line. Their quills on the black area are fringed with white. Because porcupines are nocturnal, the white on black markings stand out, alerting their mostly color blind nocturnal predators of the danger they present. This pattern is visible after porcupines are three months old.

The North American porcupine or Erethizon doprsatum is the only native North American mammal with antibiotics in its skin. Those antibiotics prevent infection when a porcupine falls out of a tree and is stuck with its own quills upon hitting the ground.

Porcupines fall out of trees fairly often because they are highly tempted by the succulent buds and twigs at the ends of the branches.

The porcupine, the wolverine, and the skunk are the only North American mammals that have strongly contrasting black-and-white coloration, because they are the only mammals that benefit from letting other animals know where they are in the dark of night.

The North American porcupine has specific behaviors to warn or defend against predators. It has a strong warning odor which it can increase when agitated. When threatened, an adult porcupine can bristle its quills, displaying a white stripe down its back, and use its teeth to make a warning, clacking sound.

North American porcupine or Erethizon doprsatum are found in North America and upper Mexico forests and urban area.

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Additional information

Weight 1 lbs
Dimensions 4.7 × 3 × 3 in
North American Porcupine Facts:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Erethizontidae
Subfamily: Erethizontinae
Genus: Erethizon
Species: E. dorsatum
Binomial name: Erethizon dorsatum
Conservation status: Least concern – A least concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation.