Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Acta Biomater. 2013 Feb;9(2):5297-304. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2012.09.004. Epub 2012 Sep 11.
Porcupines use their lightweight quills, which are strong enough to support significant compression and flexure loads, for defense. Hystrix, with long and thick quills, belongs to the family of Hystricidae (Old World porcupines), while Erethizon, with smaller quills, belongs to the Erethizontidae family (New World porcupines). The objective of this work is to compare the structure and compressive properties of quills from Hystrix and Erethizon. Both quills have a thin keratinous cortex filled with closed-cell foam that has cell diameters decreasing from the center to the cortex. Hystrix quills have stiffeners that extend from the cortex towards the center. The local buckling strength is larger for Hystrix, and very good agreement is found between the predicted values and the experimental ones for both quills. The foam shows extensive deformation, both tensile and compressive, around the buckled cortex.
豪猪利用其轻盈的刚毛进行防御，这些刚毛足够坚固，可以承受显著的压缩和弯曲载荷。长而粗的刚毛使豪猪属于豪猪科（旧大陆豪猪），而体型较小的刚毛则使刺豚鼠属于刺豚鼠科（新大陆豪猪）。本工作旨在比较豪猪和刺豚鼠的刚毛结构和压缩性能。两种刚毛的皮质都很薄，内部充满了闭孔泡沫，其细胞直径从中心向皮质逐渐减小。豪猪的刚毛有从皮质向中心延伸的加强筋。豪猪的局部屈曲强度更大，并且两种刚毛的预测值与实验值非常吻合。泡沫在褶皱的皮质周围发生了广泛的拉伸和压缩变形。
