Porcupines are popular zoo animals but have specialized welfare needs as primarily nocturnal, solitary foragers that are rarely met in conventional exhibit designs.
Porcupines in zoos often live in enclosures that are active during the day when porcupines are naturally inactive, and inactive at night when porcupines need to forage. This temporal mismatch between exhibit design and behavioral ecology leads to compromised welfare. Their powerful need to gnaw must be met with appropriate materials. Stereotypic bar-gnawing is a direct sign of inadequate environmental provision that many facilities allow to persist without intervention.