This Blog Isn't Actually About Dancing Bananas...: Hedgehogs vs Porcupines

I had to write a compare and contrast essay in English class a couple days ago. I chose to write about hedgehogs and porcupines, because alot of people mix them up. Just so you know, hedgehogs are WAY better, even though porcupines sleep in trees and can cause more pain. Hedgehogs are so much cuter though. Especially my hedgehog. Her name is Mocha. Her running wheel kept squeaking, though, and it kept me up all last night... Well this is not really about domestic pet hedgehogs anyway. More like the ones that live in the wild.

Yeah, so here's my essay:

Many people belive that hedgehogs and porcupines are the same thing. Those people are very wrong. Hedgehogs and porcupines are similaar in many ways, but have many differences at the same time.

First of all, the appearence of hedgehogs and porcupines is distinctly different, but they share some physical traits too. The size of the european hedgehogs is about the same size as a very small porcupine. But usually, hedgehogs are much than porcupines and range in sizes from five to sixteen inches. Porcupines,on the other hand, are on average twenty-eight inches long, full grown. The color of both a european hedgehog and a porcupine is about the same dark brown color. Different type of hedgehogs are different colors, so there are a variety of hedgehog colors. Porcupines, however are usually only dark brown. One of the biggest similarities between them is that they both have quills. Hedgehog quills are different from thosse of a porcupine, because they are usually much shorter. They also start at about the forehead, go across the back of the hedgehog, and stop before the tail. For a porcupine, hte quills are moch longer, and they grow all over the porcupine except for its belly.

The appearence of them isn't the only way to tell a hedgehog and porcupine apart. They also can live in different places. Althogh they both can live in the forest, hedgehogs also live in other places, such as African deserts, while porcupines live primarily in the forest. Hedgehogs and porcupines are also both nocternal, and sleep in hidden places. Porcupines prefer sleeping high up in trees, while hedgehogs sleep in burrows or bushes. They both eat what they can find for edible vegitation. In addition to that, hedgehogs also eat allot of insects, slugs, and grubs. Porcupines are herbivores, so they do not eat bugs.

The danger and defense of hedgehogs and porcupines can also compare and contrast. They can both be very dangerous to any creature that they see as a threat to them, although porcupines tend to do more damage to the predator than hedgehogs. Hedgehogs curl up in a little ball, pulling their skin tight, making every single pointy quill stand on end. Porcupines havve quills that easily deatch, and they can slap their tails against predators, causing quills to stick into the skin of the attacker. One other major difference that most people overlook is the fact that hedgehogs and porcupines aren't even in the same family. Porcupines are rodents because how their jaws and teeth are built. Hedgehogs are actually rodent-looking insectivores because they eat bugs and their teeth are made for more heavy-duty work.

Hedgehogs and porcupines have many ways to tell them apart. But even though there are many differences, it isn't very hard to tell why some people might mistake them for the same type of animal.

So... It's not really my best, but I kinda wrote it late at night. Well now you know the difference between hedgehogs and porcupines (if you even read it).

I only had to look up some of the information about porcupines. All of the hedgehog information I already knew.

Porcupine