Porcupines

By Sandra Markle

Book Overview

The North American porcupine waddles through the forests of North America. It sleeps during the day and is active at night, when it feeds on tender branches. Most animals its size have to be wary of predators, but the porcupine is well armed. Most of its body is covered by sharp, stiff quills. Any predator interested in a porcupine meal has to find a way to reach its unprotected belly. The porcupine can drive its quills deep into an enemy's skin. Animals that have encountered a porcupine's quills know to stay away.

• Format: Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822564394
• ISBN13: 9780822564393
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Lerner Publications
• Length: 39 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.7" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

This very appealing book will tell you amazing things you never knew about porcupines!

The porcupine looks so cuddly and cute, but beware! They know how to protect themselves and if you get too close it can be a very painful meeting. A young, hungry mountain lion in this book learned his lesson the hard way. He climbed the tree where the porcupine was thinking he could knock him to the ground and attack him when he was vulnerable. The way to accomplish that would be to flip him on his back and "bite its quill-free belly." The porcupine gave off his warning scent, "a sharp odor that's uniquely porcupine." With a few of his thirty-thousand quills in his flesh that lion ran like the wind! In this book you will learn many things about the porcupine you probably never knew. For example, the quills the lion acquired would not infect him because they have a "substance [that] contains a chemical that kills bacteria (germs) that infect wounds." Amazing. You will learn his habitat, what he eats, where he sleeps, how he mates, who his enemies are and many other interesting facts. The photographs in this picture are wonderful and mesh perfectly with the text. This book is very appealing and I know my copy is becoming nicely worn from so many young porcupine fans who want to read the story. The book is obviously well researched and the author acknowledges any renown individuals who shared their knowledge. Do you know why people often find porcupines gnawing at things like the window sills at their cabins? There is a very reasonable, yet unusual answer for this one!