North American Porcupine

Erethizon dorsatus (Linnaeus 1758)

Phil Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor cc-by-nc-sa-3.0

Erethizon dorsatus (North American Porcupine) is a species of rodents in the family New World porcupines. They are native to The Nearctic. They are solitary, nocturnal herbivores. They have parental care (paternal care and female provides care).

URI: https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q737742
Definition: one of the eight terrestrial ecozones constituting the Earth's land surface
Attribution: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecozone_Nearctic.svg

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URI: https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q59099
Definition: animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material

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URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/solitary
Definition: Solitary animals are those that spend a majority of their lives without others of their species, with possible exceptions for mating and raising their young. Antonyms for a solitary animal include a social animal or a colonial animal.
Attribution: https://www.definitions.net/definition/solitary+animal

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URI: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q309179
Definition: animal behavior characterized by activity during the night and sleeping during the day

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URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/paternalCare

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URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/parentalCareFemale
Definition: the female feeds and nurtures offspring
Attribution: Richard M. Sibly, Christopher C. Witt, Natalie A. Wright, Chris Venditti, Walter Jetz, and James H. Brown. 2012. Energetics, lifestyle, and reproduction in birds. PNAS 109(27):10937-10941, doi:10.1073/pnas.1206512109

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EOL has data for 32 attributes, including:

body shape
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/BodyShape
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bilaterally symmetric
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/PATO_0001324
- Definition: being symmetric about a plane running from frontal end to caudal end (head to tail), and having nearly identical right and left halves
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body temperature
- URI: http://purl.bioontology.org/ontology/MESH/D001831
- Definition: internal temperature of living individual
- Attribution: Lovegrove
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309.15 kelvin
diet includes
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/Diet
- Definition: Information about the items eaten by this organism.
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seeds
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/PO_0009010
- Definition: multi-tissue plant structures that develop from a plant ovule and have as parts a plant embryo enclosed in a seed coat.
- Comment: Ontology Description: http://www.plantontology.org/ Ontology Source: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/po.owl
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geographic distribution includes
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/Present
- Definition: This organism is known to be present in this location or region. Not exclusive; other regions may also be reported.
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United States
- URI: http://www.geonames.org/6252001
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litters per year
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/LittersPerYear
- Definition: Number of litters per female per year
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1 /year
mating system
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/MatingSystem
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polygynous
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ECOCORE_00000065
- Definition: One male has an exclusive mating relationship with two or more females
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native range includes
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/NativeRange
- Definition: Lists jurisdictions in which a given organism is a member of the undisturbed fauna or flora.
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The Nearctic
- URI: https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q737742
- Definition: one of the eight terrestrial ecozones constituting the Earth's land surface
- Attribution: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecozone_Nearctic.svg
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prenatal development duration
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/PrenatalDevelopmentDuration
- Definition: The duration of the development from fertilized, deposited or implanted egg to hatching/birth. Corresponds to egg incubation duration in oviparous animals and to gestation period duration in viviparous animals.
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210 days
social system
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/SocialSystem
- Definition: Description of the relationships among individuals within a population of organisms, including reproductive relationships (mating system), relationships within each sex, adult – young interactions, helpers and cooperation (group living).
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solitary
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/solitary
- Definition: Solitary animals are those that spend a majority of their lives without others of their species, with possible exceptions for mating and raising their young. Antonyms for a solitary animal include a social animal or a colonial animal.
- Attribution: https://www.definitions.net/definition/solitary+animal
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testis location
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/TestisLocation
- Definition: Anatomical location of testis; eg: internal, descended, scrotal, inguinal.
- Attribution: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeb.12373/full
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inguinal
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/inguinal
- Definition: Descended but ascrotal testes, a derived condition in mammals.
- Attribution: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeb.12373/full
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trophic guild
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/TrophicGuild
- Definition: A group of species that exploit the same food resources, and/or use the same feeding or foraging methods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_(ecology)
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xylophage
- URI: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q45879481
- Definition: organism that derives nutrition primarily from wood
- Comment: synonym: lignivore
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weaning age
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/WeaningAge
- Definition: Age when primary nutritional dependency on the mother ends and independent foraging begins to make a major contribution to the offspring’s energy requirements.
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60 days

Known occurrences, collected specimens and observations of North American porcupine. View this species on GBIF

Phil Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor cc-by-nc-sa-3.0

North American porcupine includes 7 children: