---
title: "North American Porcupine"
description: "Erethizon dorsatum — Mamíferos. The North American porcupine, also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pt/animal/north-american-porcupine
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# North American Porcupine

> Erethizon dorsatum — Mamíferos. The North American porcupine, also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family.

- Scientific name: *Erethizon dorsatum*
- Category: `mammals` (Mamíferos)
- Habitats: `forest` (Floresta)
- iNaturalist observations: 34174
- Wikidata: [Q10758828](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10758828)
- iNaturalist taxon: [44026](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/44026)

## Names

- en: North American Porcupine
- de: Baumstachelschwein
- es: Puercoespín norteamericano
- fr: Porc-épic d'Amérique
- nl: Oerzon
- pl: Urson amerykański

## Countries with the most observations

US (20123), CA (10656), MX (26)

## Summary

The North American porcupine, 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. 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: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_porcupine

## Photo

![North American Porcupine](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/north-american-porcupine/medium.jpg)

Photo: Kent P. McFarland · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129692516

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/north-american-porcupine?lang=pt` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).