Panic gripped south Kashmir's Pulwama town, about 30 km from Srinagar, when a group of porcupines appeared outside the premises of a government school.
The authorities closed down the school mistaking the rodents for leopards.
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines or quills that defend them from predators.
Chief education officer, Pulwama, Farooq Ahmed directed the school authorities to close the school for three days fearing a leopard attack.
Even reports in various local newspapers suggested that a group of leopards tried to enter the government primary school when children were in classrooms in the Chewkalan Karewa area of Pulwama town.
Wildlife warden Ghulam Ahamad Lone, however, denied the reports. "Porcupines were represented as leopards by school authorities," he said. Lone added that villagers had mistaken porcupines for leopards.