Head to head
Prehensile-tailed Porcupine vs North American Porcupine
Prehensile-tailed Porcupine
VS North American Porcupine
Both are New World porcupines that climb trees, but the prehensile-tailed porcupine is a tropical rainforest species with a gripping tail while the North American porcupine is a larger, slow rodent of northern conifer forests.
| Prehensile-tailed Porcupine | North American Porcupine | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Coendou prehensilis | Erethizon dorsatum |
| Range | Tropical forest across northern and central South America east of the Andes | Alaska and Canada south through the western United States to northern Mexico, and in the northern eastern states |
| Habitat | Rainforest and other tropical forest | Coniferous and mixed forest, but also deserts and brush |
| Lifestyle | Spends most of its life in trees, climbing slowly and steadily, with a strong gripping tail used like a fifth limb | Large, slow, tree-climbing rodent |
| Quills | Sharp quills that come loose on contact, though it cannot throw them | About 30,000 barbed quills that work deeper once embedded, though it cannot throw them |
| Diet | Fruit, leaves, bark, flowers, and seeds | Summer leaves, buds, twigs, flowers, and fruit, and winter inner bark and conifer needles |
| Young | Usually one young, born with soft quills that harden soon afterwards | A single well-developed baby, born with soft quills |
| Conservation status | Least Concern, hard to survey because it is nocturnal | Least Concern, with a stable population |
Prehensile-tailed Porcupine vs North American Porcupine: common questions
What does prehensile mean?
A prehensile tail can grip, and the prehensile-tailed porcupine uses its tail with a bare gripping surface underneath like a fifth limb when climbing.
Can either porcupine shoot its quills?
No, porcupines cannot throw their quills, which instead come loose when something touches them.
Where do the prehensile-tailed and North American porcupines live?
The prehensile-tailed porcupine lives in tropical forest in northern and central South America, while the North American porcupine ranges from Alaska and Canada south to northern Mexico.