Do porcupines throw quills

Answer 1

Porcupines can not shoot their quills or even throw them at will. Although it is commonly believed that when a porcupine feels under threat, they will fire their quills, puncturing the approaching animal, it is in fact a fallacy. Porcupines are not able to deliberately throw their quills at will and can defiantly not aim and fire.

It is thought that the idea of Porcupines fire quill at enemies comes from the way in which they defend them selves. When a porcupine is threatened they will shake their quills rapidly and run backwards. This action creates a very load noise, similar to a lions roar, and frightens away the predator, but during the shaking action it has been known for a few quills to come loose. These either fall to the ground, or on very exceptional occasions may stick into the predators. This only happens very rarely and under normal circumstances the porcupine cannot do any harm to a predator that stays out of reach.