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Porcupines are mammals minimally mentioned in the short story How to Train Your Hogfly.
Description[]
Porcupines are one of the largest groups of rodents, comprising of two families in the Infraorder Hystricognathi. Generally speaking, porcupines are divided into 'New World' porcupines (Family Erethizontidae) and 'Old World' Porcupines (Family Hystricidae). The majority of species from both groups occur in temperate to tropical regions and are herbivorous. Otherwise both groups differ widely with habitat, behavior, quill structure, dentition, and various other morphological features.
Old World porcupines can be found in sections of Southern Europe, as well as throughout Africa and Asia. It is possible historical Vikings knew of porcupines or possibly encountered them during trade or raids. The Crested Porcupine (Hystrix cristata) has a distribution that includes most of Italy.
Function[]
In the book series, porcupines are only used in figures of speech.
Appearances[]
How to Train Your Hogfly[]
Porcupines are mentioned while describing Throatgogglers.
| “ | [...] where you could just about hear the greasy goggling gurgles of the Throatgoggler, a sound that chills the blood and makes every hair on your head stick up like the quills of a fretful porcupines. | ” |
| — How to Train Your Hogfly |
Later, Camicazi's hair is described to be "so wildly tangled it looked like a couple of porcupines having a fist-fight".
