Whats the difference between a porcupine and a hedgehog?
Porcupines have longer, thinner quills that are used for defense. They also have small hooks on the end and the quills can attach to a predator and released from the porcupine. Porcupines are usually about the size of a large cat and larger. Hedgehogs are smaller, no bigger than the size of a guinea pig and have shorter blunter spines that do not detach but are used as defense. Hedgehogs can also be domesticated and kept as pets. Porcupines are also rodents, unlike hedgehogs which fall into a different order of mammal. Porcupines have long visible tails also covered in quills. Hedgehogs have short nubby tails similar to a hamsters that are not covered with spines and is fairly hidden. There are 27 species of porcupine in Asia, Italy, Africa and the Americas. There are 16 species of hedgehog in Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand. Both are nocturnal.
