University:
Michigan State University
Course:
BS 162 | Organismal and Population Biology
Academic year:

2022
Views:

468

Pages:

1
Author:

palangresq3v

Structure and Function of Porcupines All organisms have external parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find, and take in food, water and air. Porcupines are rodents. They eat leaves, twigs, buds and even bark. They have long, sharp, front teeth, called incisors, that they use for gnawing on these woody plants that make up their diet. Their incisors never wear away, because they grow throughout their lives. Porcupines have poor vision. They depend on their sense of smell to find food, often stopping to rise up on their back legs to sniff the air. Porcupines have sharp claws. They use them to can climb trees to escape predators and feed bark and twigs high off the ground. Porcupines have good hearing, but they have a slow, lumbering walk, so cannot out run predators. Yet few predators attack and feed on porcupines because of their 30,000 sharp quills. A porcupine’s quills sit in a sheath so they release easily when a predator touches them. Each quill also has a pointed end with tiny barbs, like fishhooks. Those hooks snag an animal’s skin and don’t pull out very easily. A porcupine, when approached by a predator, turns its back and raises its quills to bring them closer to the predators face. Many family dogs have fallen for this trick and gotten a face full of painful quills. Though porcupines are well adapted for life in the woods, they are often killed by cars as they cross roads, because of their slow, lumbering gate.