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The defensive spines on a porcupine. Spines in mammals include the prickles of hedgehogs, and among rodents, the quills of porcupines (of both the New World and the Old), as well as the prickly fur of spiny mice, spiny pocket mice, and of species of spiny rat.
Quills grow in varying lengths and colours, depending on the animal's age and species. Porcupines' quills, or spines, take on various forms, depending on the species, but all are modified hairs coated with thick plates of keratin, [16] and embedded in the skin musculature. Old World porcupines have quills embedded in clusters, whereas in New ...
Echidnas are possibly named after Echidna, a creature from Greek mythology who was half-woman, half-snake, as the animal was perceived to have qualities of both mammals and reptiles. [citation needed] An alternative explanation is a confusion with Ancient Greek: ἐχῖνος, romanized: ekhînos, lit. 'hedgehog, sea urchin'. [5]
The most distinguishing feature of the porcupine is its coat of quills. An adult porcupine has about 30,000 quills that cover all of its body except its underbelly, face, and feet. Quills are modified hairs formed into sharp, barbed, hollow spines. They are used primarily for defense, but also serve to insulate their bodies during winter.
This animal resembles both a hedgehog and a shrew. But its most notable feature is its bright yellow and black colored quills. These unusual creatures only exist in Madagascar.
The hedgehog's back contains two large muscles that direct the quills. Some light-weight desert hedgehog species with fewer spines are more likely to flee or attack, ramming an intruder with the spines, rolling up only as a last resort. Hedgehogs are primarily nocturnal, with some species also active during the day. Hedgehogs sleep for a large ...
The spines on the tail are hollow, and used to make a rattling sound to scare away predators. An erectile crest of long, bristly hairs runs from the top of the head down to the shoulders. The spines and quills cover the back and flanks of the animal, starting about a third of the way down the body, and continuing onto the tail.
Old World porcupines are stout, heavily built animals, with blunt, rounded heads, fleshy, mobile snouts, and coats of thick cylindrical or flattened spines, which form the whole covering of their bodies, and are not intermingled with ordinary hairs. The habits of most species are strictly terrestrial.