North American porcupine
Also known as Erethizon dorsata, Erethizon dorsatum, common porcupine
species of mammal
Species
Least ConcernNorth American Porcupine
species
Observations31,592
Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore, MI
via IUCN
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Urson Erethizon dorsatum 1.jpg
Show 7 more facts
- Commons category
- Erethizon dorsatum
- taxon name
- Erethizon dorsatum
- Commons gallery
- Erethizon dorsatum
- taxon common name
- Common Porcupine
- sequenced genome URL
- www.dnazoo.org/assemblies/Erethizon_dorsatum
~14 min read
Article
The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum), also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family. It is the second largest rodent in North America after the North American beaver (Castor canadensis). The porcupine is a caviomorph rodent whose ancestors were believed to have crossed the Atlantic from Africa to Brazil 30 million years ago, and then migrated to North America during the Great American Interchange after the Isthmus of Panama rose 3 million years ago.
Etymology
Gallery (14)
Connections
Categories
Animal taxa named by Carl LinnaeusCite IUCN without doiCommons link from WikidataErethizontidaeExtant Middle Pleistocene first appearancesFauna of the Eastern United StatesFauna of the Great Lakes regionFauna of the Rocky MountainsFauna of the Western United StatesIUCN Red List least concern speciesMammals described in 1758NatureServe secure species