To Irritate With Back

The title of this post is the meaning of the Latin name for the porcupine. This seems to make sense as porcupines are most famous for their quill-covered physiques. Porcupines are large rodents that are covered with 30,000 sharp quills. The porcupine uses these quills as a defense against predators. When the predator attacks, the porcupine keeps its back toward the attacker and tries to swat it with its quill-covered tail. The quills have lots of little barbs that cause them to stick in the attacker. If hit in vital areas or hit in the mouth and unable to eat, animals can die from porcupine quill wounds. But one interesting thing is that the quills of the porcupine do not cause infection as they are covered with an antibiotic substance. Why, you ask? Apparently, porcupines are really good at falling out of trees and consequently often stick themselves with their quills. Therefore, the antibiotic helps the porcupines from becoming infected from self-inflicted wounds. Isn’t it neat how God provided the porcupine with incredible defensive measures but also provided them with infection protection from wounds?

Linkses:
YouTube video
Article with fun pictures
Magnified Quill