Ancient Porcupine Discovery Solves Evolutionary Mystery 10 Million Years in the Making

New findings from a complete porcupine skeleton in Florida reveal a much earlier origin for North American porcupines, predating the Isthmus of Panama, and suggest a mixed evolutionary lineage with traits of both North and South American species.

There’s a longstanding debate simmering among biologists who study porcupines. In Central and South America, there are 16 species of porcupines, while North America has just one. Genetic data indicates that this lone North American porcupine is part of a lineage that dates back 10 million years. However, fossil records provide a contrasting narrative, suggesting that they might have evolved only 2.5 million years ago, at the beginning of the ice ages.