Porcupines can NOT throw their quills. Porcupine vision is poor, but they have an excellent sense of smell. Porcupines make shrill screeches, whines, and low grunts. Porcupines are vegetarians, and they eat a large variety of plants, shrubs and trees. Baby porcupines are called porcupettes.. Porcupines are not territorial, and their home range may be as large as 200 acres. When we are lucky enough to spot most mammals, its usually as they are running away.