It waddles along in plantigrade fashion on the soles of its feet with its heels touching the ground. Sensitive facial whiskers help it maneuver through thick underbrush. A porky can see moving objects only at short range and is almost blind to stationary objects. Its hearing is probably inferior to that of most other mammals, but it has a keen sense of smell. A porcupine can swim, its air-filled quills helping to keep it afloat.
Porcupines are vegetarian.
In winter, much of their diet consists of needles, twigs and small limbs of evergreens, especially hemlocks. In spring, summer and fall, porkies eat a wide variety of vegetation, including grasses, sedges, and the flowers, leaves, twigs, roots, buds, catkins and seeds of many other plants. In wild areas, porcupines gnaw on shed deer antlers. Closer to civilization, their chewing damages wooden buildings, telephone poles and ornamental trees. Porcupines crave salt.