Spiky, surprising and with a defence system nobody wants to test - our printable porcupine mask is a brilliant pick for kids who appreciate animals with attitude! The porcupine is the third largest rodent in the world, bristling with thousands of sharp quills and entirely unintimidated by animals many times its size. Perfect for woodland school plays, North American animals projects, World Book Day, birthday parties, and prickly imaginative play.

The porcupine is one of those animals that children find instantly fascinating - the quill biology alone is extraordinary, and the fact that it can deter bears and lions with nothing but modified hairs makes it a genuine underdog hero. Every mask comes with a full colour version AND a black and white line art version for colouring in.

5 Interesting Facts About Porcupines!

Porcupines cannot shoot their quills - this is one of nature's most persistent myths. The quills detach very easily on contact with skin or fur, but they are not actively launched at attackers.
A single North American porcupine has around 30,000 quills - each one is a modified hair with a sharp tip and microscopic backward-facing barbs that make them extremely difficult to remove once embedded.
Porcupine quills have antibiotic properties - researchers discovered that the fatty acids coating the quills inhibit bacterial growth, which may help prevent the porcupine from infecting itself when it occasionally falls from a tree.
Baby porcupines are called porcupettes and are born with soft quills that harden within hours of birth - nature's rather urgent solution to an obvious obstetric challenge.
Porcupines are surprisingly good climbers - North American porcupines spend much of their time in trees eating bark and buds, and their feet have long curved claws and textured pads for gripping.

Printable Porcupine Mask

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