The largest of the porcupines, Crested Porcupines can grow to almost a metre long and weigh near 30kgs. Their quills aren't the quills of the North American porcupine and its short sharp spikes interspersed with fur, but long black & white ringed spines that can grow up to half a metre long. The spines are anchored in deep muscled layers within the skin, and can be flared up or rattled depending how annoyed the little one is. Sufficiently annoyed, they make best use of their business end by launching backwards at attackers. Take a close look at the image above - that's not just a slightly spikey creature that relies on its spikes to be merely uncomfortable; its rear end is only a little less painful than diving head first into a pit of kitchen knives.
The business end, relatively laid back.
Along the top of their body down to the middle of their nose is the line of bristle that gives them their name, and it to can be voluntarily raised - just in case the massive spray of ringed needles out the other end wasn't warning enough.
The closely related Indian Crested Porcupine. Angry
The quills themselves aren't poisonous, and a porcupine can't throw them - but they're loosely enough connected that they're happy to leave a few stuck in any attacker. The spines are such an effective deterrent that a closely related Indian species has been known to fend off attacking tigers & leopards.
Not to put too fine a point on it, yes mating is performed very carefully. The quills can be voluntarily laid flat, and when receptive to a bloke porcupine, the female can lift her tail, which has no spines underneath, and lay it over the top of the spines on her back. As for giving birth, the littlest ones are born with short soft quills that only harden later.
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