The African crested porcupine. Porcupine means “quill-pigs” in Latin. But don’t be confused porcupines are rodents, not pigs.
The African crested porcupine has highly effective defense mechanisms. The first strategy is to appear bigger by raising and fanning out it’s 13 in quills.
If this doesn’t scare a predator away the next thing they will do is click their teeth and shake the hollow quills on their tail which produces a hissing/rattle sound. If this also fails they will run backwards towards the predator giving them a face full of quills. The quills get stuck in the predator and the wounds can disable and even kill the predator. Porcupines have been known to injure lions, hyenas, and leopards.
As the human population expands, porcupines and humans are competing for resources and land. As herbivores that love tubers, they are often considered agricultural pests. Farmers will chase and kill porcupines. They are also targeted and killed for their quills.
Eye of the Wild Photography 