evidence: Everyone knows what a porcupine is, but apart from the fact that they have quills and can hurt you badly if you mess with them, not many people know much about their biology and manner. They are actually very docile animals that will not attack passersby, but rather lumber away slowly to a comfortable distance then resume whatever it was they were doing. Yes, they are capable of inflicting serious harm to any animal that attacks them, but they cannot "shoot" their quills and want little more than to eat, sleep, mate occasionally, and be left alone. While many predators are capable of eating them, porcupines are a fairly risky food item and most predators leave them alone except in times of desperation. Fisher cats, however, excel at preying upon porcupines and may even suppress porcupine populations in some places. The fisher cat is scarce or absent from much of the porcupine’s range, however, and the general lack of predators has led to porcupines having a nearly absent flight response, resulting many being hit by cars. Indeed, many people who have never seen a live porcupine are accustomed to seeing their carcasses along roads.