Or, if a predator is chasing them, they will stop abruptly, causing the pursuer to impale itself on the porcupine's needle-sharp quills. Sometimes quills are so loosely attached that, when the porcupine raises them in defence, they seem to fly off. They also rattle their quills as a warning. They are vegetarians, feeding mostly on bulbs which are scratched out of the ground. The meat of the porcupine is evidently very tasty, as both beasts and man are sometimes willing to brave their dangerous quills in order to hunt them.
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