North American porcupine: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the North American porcupine lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Erethizon dorsatum
Group	Mice, rats & other rodents
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	2 countries
Continents	North America
Diet (main food)	twig, plant stem, bark, fruit, leaf, root
Class	Mammal
Order	Rodentia
Family	Erethizontidae

Where does the North American porcupine live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the North American porcupine in 2 countries and territories across North America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What does a North American porcupine eat?

Wikidata lists the main food source of the North American porcupine as: twig, plant stem, bark, fruit, leaf, root.

Is the North American porcupine endangered?

The North American porcupine’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the North American porcupine?

The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is a mammal in the order Rodentia and the family Erethizontidae, genus Erethizon. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the North American porcupine

The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum), also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family. It is the second largest rodent in North America after the North American beaver (Castor canadensis). The porcupine is a caviomorph rodent whose ancestors were believed to have crossed the Atlantic from Africa to Brazil 30 million years ago, and then migrated to North America during the Great American Interchange after the Isthmus of Panama rose 3 million years ago.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article North American porcupine (revision 1381118957), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q10758828 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).