Family ERETHIZONTIDAE

(NEW WORLD PORCUPINES)

• Small to medium-sized nocturnal, arboreal, herbivorous rodents with bodies covered with sharp, usually barbed spines used for defense.

• 55-150 cm.

• Nearctic and Neotropical Regions.

• Tundra and boreal forests in the north, temperate deciduous forests, deserts, grasslands, and lowland and montane tropical forests.

• 3 genera, 17 species, 23 (axa.

• | species Vulnerable; none Extinct since 1600.