Sharon Brown, age 11, of Columbus, Ohio, for her question;

When. a porcupine loses a quill, does he grow a new one?

A baby porcupine is born with hair and quills. However, for a few days, the quills are soft. They harden in a week or so. The little fellows coat is then the proper porcupine mixture of hair and prickles. He may be a foot long and he can protect himself from the age of two weeks.

The quills are actually specially developed hairs. Like hairs, they are fed and grown from roots below the surface of the skin, When he defends himself, Mr, Prickles may lose twelve of these quills with each blow. At that rate you would expect the aged porcupine to be minus his quills. Not at all, His quills grow as your hair grows, When you lose a hair a new one grows in its place. When the porcupine loses a quill, he also grows a new one.