Did you know?

A True Casanova.

As part of porcupine foreplay, the male porcupine urinates on the female. This apparently excites the female and gets her "ready."

You're Such a Tease.

A female porcupines likes to keep her man (or men) waiting. She will stay in a tree urinating and making loud come-hither calls for up to three days, while the male porcupines fight among themselves below.

The Direction of Erection.

Porupines are in the histricomorph category, a group of rodents that includes guniea pigs and chinchillas. Characteristic of the males in this category, the porcupine has a penis that points backwards in the sheath, but not while erect. It is a mechanism similar to a jackknife, according to Dr. Uldis Rose, biology professor at Queens College.

Natural Ribbing?

The porcupuine also has barbs on the tip of its penis, which are bristly, not sharp. Theory has it that these barbs stimulate the female's vagina and induce orgasm or ovulation.

So much for monogamy.

The largest male porcupine in an area can mate with several females, because he can defeat the smaller males. Females have territories that do not overlap with each other, whereas males will roam with other males through several territories.

It's over?

The actual mating process takes about a minute.

SOURCES: Rick Sweitzer, professor of biology at the university of North Dakota and Dr. Uldis Roze, biology professor at Queens College in New York.

For more non X-rated information about porcupines, you can go to

The High Desert Organization

http://www.highdesert.org/porcupi.htm

University of Connecticut

http://www.lib.uconn.edu/NativeTech/quill/porcupin.html

The Canadian Wildlife Society

http://www.ec.gc.ca/cws-scf/hww-fap/porcupin/porcupin.html