Porcupine Quills are extremely light weight making them much more appealing than beads. A porcupine quill is really just a large 'hair' that has a hard, shiny shell and a pithy, soft interior wich can be hollowed.
Porcupines Quills grow in varying lengths and colours, depending on the animal's age and species. All are modified hairs coated with thick plates of keratin, and are embedded in the skin.
Single quills are interspersed with bristles, underfur, and hair. Quills are released by contact or may drop out when the porcupine shakes its body.
New quills grow to replace lost ones. Porcupines were long believed to have the ability to project their quills to a considerable distance at an enemy, but this has since been proven to be untrue.