Talk:Porcupine

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Hairynosed Porcupine

I find no mention elsewhere of a hairynosed porcupine, and the species name is illegible. What is it supposed to be? -phma

I don't think there is such a thing.211.72.108.3 02:56, 21 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Whadya mean?

What does it mean to be "less strictly nocturnal"? Less than what? :)

Less than a vampire, I would think.

Names

What are the male and female names for a Porcupine? A buck and a doe are male and female deer, for example. Anyone?

A female is called a sow and a male is a boar. A baby is a pup in case you were wondering.

Third largest?

I think the porcupine is the third largest rodent: #1 - capybara, #2 - beaver. Is this correct?

Once the ranking of the porcupine in terms of size is completed [to the best of my knowledge it's probably capybara, beaver, porcupine, but I'm not certain], could the sentence "The porcupine is the third largest rodent, after the beaver." be fixed? Please? It's driving me nuts.

Yes, that's true.211.72.108.3 02:56, 21 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Mating

If somebody is up to it they can integrate How do porcupines make love?:

Young children should be banned from the university library basements. Sometimes the most improbable science is also the truest. Never stand close to cage which contains courting porcupines.

:) Thue | talk 17:29, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Disbambiguation

Porcupine: Disambiguation

A porcupine is a medieval defensive weapon consisting of an assemblage of (simple) machines controlled by a rope, the purpose of which is to fire many arrows simultaneously, at about waist level, throuch a grid of holes in the lower portion of a door or doors, such as those found in a fortification. The basic concept and its use are seen in the film "The Messenger" with model and actress Milla Jovovich as Jean Darc, the person usually reffered to under the name "Joan of Arc." The porcupine is seen used by English forces. I do not know that the porcupine is a uniquely English weapon.

A porcupine is also a device designed for surreptiously punching holes in walls and introducing incapacitant gas into adjacent rooms. It is held in the inventories of various groups in the United States which are deemed competent to use special methods for delivery of chemical agents. Examples include the Psychological Operations detachment at Fort Bragg, as well as certain components of the CIA. Limited additional information on this definition is availible with two citations I have found, so that I may be able to add it later.

I would set up the disambiguation page for "porcupine" myself, but I do not know how. Perhaps someone could do this for me and then i could finish the entry.

-

There is already a porcupine disambiguation page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcupine_%28disambiguation%29 . You can edit that to see how other links there are referenced...when you add a new meaning(s) to that page, and they doesn't have a wikipedia entry, view your edited disambiguation page (preview or saved), click on the new meaning, and one of the options you'll see is "create an entry" or something like that. Maybe not the best way to add a new entry in wikipedia, but it works. Agyle 16:43, 11 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Do porcupine quills, in addition to bolstering self-defense, act as sensory cells (like human skin)

Are the quills more like the hair on a human's head (dead, unfeeling) or are they more like the hair inside our ears (alive, sensitive)?

They're dead cells. I mean, they can fall off easily... Dora Nichov 11:54, 3 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

taxonomy

Under the "Species" title, the porcupine is identified as a rodent, and then later it is said to be in the insectavore order. No species can belong to multiple orders. I know enough about taxonomy to realize that there is an error here, but I don't know much about porcupines, so somebody who is more of an expert should try to fix this error.

If you reread the section you'll see that it is described as having spiny hairs similar to those found in hedgehogs and that hedgehogs are insectivorans. --Aranae 17:46, 16 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Anyways, porcupines are rodents and not inesctivores. Dora Nichov 13:30, 30 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Free State Project

Should there be a mention that the logo of the Free State Project is a porcupine? If there should, what would be the best way to mention this? I removed the "See also" section, whose sole member was a link to the Free State Project Dylan Lake (t·c·ε) 06:28, 19 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Species List Update

This page is missing the Sunda Porcupine, Hystrix javanica. I am unsure if this species belongs in the new Thecurus genus but for now I will list it below Hystrix brachyura.

Subgenus Acanthion and related to H. brachyura. You were correct in your placement. --Aranae 00:35, 21 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Recreational Sex

I have heard that porcupines often engage in recreational sex. Is this true?

128.255.173.5 20:39, 24 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No. Dora Nichov 11:25, 10 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

porcupine butt

how large is the porcupine butt??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.253.108.234 (talk) 16:34, August 30, 2007 (UTC)

Are there porcupines in Australia?

I know there are echidnas in Australia, but what about porcupines? If so, which areas? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.45.142.229 (talk) 01:03, 2 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]