The porcupine has always been considered an annoying, disagreeable – animal. In fact, even Shakespeare described it that way. In Hamlet, there is the line: “Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.”

Actually, the porcupine is quite a harmless animal, who simply likes to be let alone. During the winter, it curls up in a hollow log or cave and sleeps most of the time. In the summer, it moves slowly through the woods in search of bark, twigs, roots, and leaves of trees and shrubs.