Innate behavior in porcupines?

Question

When the porcupine raises it's spines and waves it tail violently when it's afraid an innate behavior?

I'm not quite clear about this, any help would be great!

thanks

Answer 1

I never really thought about it, and I'm not sure if this has been studied in regards as instinctive or learned behavior. I would imagine its instinctive, with orphaned porcupines also exhibiting the same behavior when threatened.