University:
University of Georgia
Course:
BIOL-1110 | Biological Diversity
Academic year:

2024
Views:

405

Pages:

1
Author:

Madelyn Bradshaw

Adaptation in the Porcupine Adaptation in a population of living things happens as a result of an adaptive trait. This is any inheritable trait that increases it’s survival rate so that it can live longer, reproduce longer, and have more offspring (that also have that trait). Adaptive traits can improve animals find food, make a safer home, escape predators, survive cold or heat or lack of water. Porcupines are very well adapted for their lives in the woods. They are rodents with long, sharp front teeth that grow throughout their lives. They eat leaves, twigs, buds and even bark. They have sharp claws and can climb trees to feed on the bark and twigs high off the ground. They don’t hibernate and feed all winter, usually at night (nocturnal), but can be seen during the day. They have a slow lumbering walk, so cannot run from predators and are often struck by cars making their way across roadways. There are very few predators that can successfully attack and feed on a porcupine because of the 30,000 quills that cover them. The quills are an ingenious defense because they each sit in a sheath that allows them to release easily when a predator touches them. Further, their pointed end has a tiny barb, like a fishhook, that once entered into an animals skin does not pull out easily. As the predator’s muscles work, they further embed the painful quills. When a porcupine is approached by a predator, will turn its back and raise its quills to make the more accessible to a predators face. Many pet dogs have fallen for this trick and gotten too close with their sensitive noses. All these physical adaptations help the porcupine to survive in its habitat.

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