Porcupines are not usually a mammal (actually they are rodents) one wants to find up close and personal. They are great climbers because of their claws. They can live 10 to 20 years. One porcupine can have as many as 30,000 quills. These quills are loosely attached and come off easily as they brush against a predator, but a porcupine does not shoot its quills at an attacker. New quills grow in to replace the lost ones. Their front feet have four toes while their back feet have five toes. Each toe has a strong curved claw that porcupines use to climb trees or strip away bark to eat.
They have strong jaws, and a rough, fibrous diet. Their diet consists of the inner bark of many types of trees and bushes as well as foliage, twigs, harder bark buds, fruit, nuts, berries, flowers and even deer and elk antlers for their calcium.