Microstructured barbs on the North American porcupine quill enable easy tissue penetration and difficult removal

Overview of attention for article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, December 2012

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In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

news: 62 news outlets
blogs: 16 blogs
twitter: 71 X users
patent: 1 patent
facebook: 3 Facebook pages

wikipedia: 6 Wikipedia pages
googleplus: 1 Google+ user
reddit: 6 Redditors
video: 5 YouTube creators

Readers on

mendeley: 228 Mendeley

So far, Altmetric has seen 66 news stories from 62 outlets.

Cacti spines, snake fangs, snail love darts – oh my! How function drives the evolution of nature’s puncture tools - Modern Sciences

Modern Sciences, 23 Jul 2026

Philip Anderson, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Most people probably aren’t thinking about the complexity of nature…

De espinho a presas: como natureza criou ferramentas espertas de perfuração

Notícias - UOL, 13 Jul 2026

Mas mesmo dentro de um grupo de animais aparentemente relacionado pode haver grandes diferenças.

Cacti spines, snake fangs, snail love darts – oh my! How function drives the evolution of nature’s puncture tools

Yahoo!, 08 Jul 2026

Philip Anderson, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignWed, July 8, 2026 at 7:04 PM UTC5 min read Most people probably aren't…

Cacti spines, snake fangs, snail love darts – oh my! How function drives the evolution of nature’s puncture tools

Idaho Press, 08 Jul 2026

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.), (THE…

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