One dark , foggy night on a Maine peninsula , I encountered a feared fauna , known for causing screams of affright and pain in backyards , woodlots and playground . robe in the veil of fog and darkness , a down shrubby shape moved closer , then tight … then close enough that I realize it was a massively spined , near - sighted animal that had n’t a hint it was about to walk across my foot ! My response — running as tight as I could to get away from the incognizant hedgehog — kept both of us safe . After I regained my composure , I was mesmerised with the cryptic little creature , and I cautiously see it from a safe distance . Although I could not see well in the fuzzy , obtuse light , I could tell the hedgehog was nibbling on flora . Mostly eatage and clovers made up its summertime dark snack , and it seemed blissfully incognizant of my presence a few feet away .
North American porcupines ( Erethizondorsatum , which means “ scratchy back”)are smooth , cloistered , nocturnal creatures that do very little to provoke a engagement . Why do n’t we see porcupines before we have an unfortunate encounter with them ? Where are they hiding during the day ? Can we coexist peacefully with such prickly tempestuous animals in our gardens and around our farm ?
Understand The Porcupine’s Abilities
Despite the porcupine ’s grim profile and slow , hunch over amble , it is quite the climber . penetrative , curved claws equip porcupines ’ broad , flat feet for scaling trees . The stout tail not only holds their defense mechanisms but also serve as a supportive appendage as they mount up and down trunks . They have excellent gage of scent and hearing — all the better for this woodland creature to communicate with a wide-eyed range of sound . You might hear them yak , squeal , coughing , oink or whimper . Porcupines make all these sounds and more when they get together to court during the late twilight and winter . They also dearly rub noses to get to know their potential mates and sharply fight off competitor . One porcupette , a sister hedgehog , is have each twelvemonth in the spring and can live as long as 15 age .
They live long in part because of their burry reputation in the fantastic world . However , there are natural porcupine vulture such as bobcat , lynx , great - tusk hooter , fisherman , carcajou and spate Leo . multitude hunt hedgehog as well . Their nitty-gritty has been a traditional basic for many autochthonous North Americans , and the quill an important material for basketry and ornamental craftsmanship .
Perhaps the most plebeian cause of porcupine human death , after cars , is falling out of trees . Not a graceful way to die , but with all the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree trimming they do , it ’s bound to happen . Reaching out too far for tender leaves and bud can charge them tumbling to the footing . But nature has bring forth the porcupine ’s back , in a sense . If an impaled flight feather is left to act itself out , no contagion will occur . An antibiotic oil coats the flight feather , likely an version that serves as a safety net for ego - inflicted wound . Shutterstock
Quiet Creatures Carry Loaded Quills
Porcupettes are born ready to sway and roll . Their eyes are unfastened , they have develop teeth , and within an hour after nativity , their delicate hair’s-breadth stiffen into quill feather . The hedgehog ’s hair’s-breadth is adapt into the barbed quill on roughly half of the animal ’s soundbox . The abdomen , grimace , and privileged legs are voiced and furred . Those are the places a threaten porcupine will protect , balling up with olfactory organ between peg and turning to present the armored prat . Before resorting to contact , the porcupine might give a warning : a musky odor or a clattering of their teeth . Next comes a display of as many as 30,000 erected shaft . The last move is a quick lash of the tail , aiming for the facial expression of the victim . quill pen do n’t shoot out , but they are easily released .
hedgehog roadkill is a frequent good deal in the westerly states where I ’ve lived . Once , I was jaunt with a natural scientist who stopped at the sight of a porcupine dead on the side of the route . With phonograph needle - nose pliers , she pulled a few quills from the carcass and offer me one . I examined it cautiously . The quill changes in chromaticity along its length as the structure changes from a unaccented , empty , spongelike underground to a dumb , sharp , finely barb steer . I wonder at the figure of the cute , waddling animal and the mixed bag of functions of its infamous adaptation , the flight feather . Not only do the quills help oneself the porcupine go up and keep vulture aside , the compressibility traps melodic line and makes a 30 - pound hedgehog buoyant in water . While they might seem bizarre and disputatious , this porcupine was going about its natural walking in life-time until it was killed by the prevailing predator , a motor fomite . To keep a flight feather from the fallen little warrior feel like a dishonour , so I declined to hold onto it .
Porcupines’ Vegan Diet Affects Forest Health
At about two weeks of age , a porcupette begin scrounge on outpouring Green . Wildflowers , trefoil , bush , veggie crops , tender branchlet , cum , fruit and freak are the spring and summertime diet . As the season change and the immature rodent ’s tooth grow , tough food supplies fill the herbivorous diet . Pine phonograph needle , woody stems of shrub , and the bark of trees such as winter fern , beech , aspen , oak , willow and spruce become their food . The porcupine ’s incisors keep grow , so they have to gnaw at on wood to whittle them down . This could be a problem if the tree diagram - to - porcupine ratio is out of balance . Like any environmental stressor , too much intrusion on a tree makes it susceptible to other problems;drought , barque beetle , infection and other risks can be exacerbated by porcupines , but it ’s a combining of many factors that results in massive tree loss .
Porcupines are n’t as problematic as some other wild fauna , and in most cases cater a born tree diagram pruning service of process that keeps a forest stand healthier . Unlike beaver or rabbits , hedgehog can uprise tree diagram trunks and nibble on branches . Dropping sprig and fruit to the forest floor benefit other wildlife down below . The thinning of higher limb countenance sunlight to penetrate the earth below and give the understory ray of light , increase the diverseness of plant life life history in the forest . Shutterstock
Predators, Beware
If you want other wild animals to keep their space from your property , a hedgehog might be a good ally to have around . Wise wildlife screw that the spiny quills are the weapons that keep on working , practise into human body about an inch a daylight . If a quill deflate a vital electric organ , the dupe could die a slow and awful death .
If you have a wiener outside , it is more likely to find a porcupine than you are . When I work as a veterinarian ’s helper , I help with a few of these cases . ordinarily , the veterinarian sedated and then clipped quill on the interior of a dog ’s lips . I also have heart - wrenching puerility memories of our family ’s darling labrador mix shout out with a bloody , barbed snout . A subject area of nearly 300 cases of dogs with porcupine quill concluded that arrest contiguous medical aid , within the first 24 hours , is central to avoiding complication . Do n’t seek to draw the quills out yourself or you could make affair much worse .
If you have hedgehog , you belike have good porcupine home ground . Porcupines in the wilderness are more probable to know in rocky , inaccessible surface area , which supply privacy for their hideaway . They are n’t very social , and as you might imagine , would rather not share a lair with another porcupine . They have a biological penury for common salt and seek it out . Natural salt depository appeal them , and if they are desperate they might go for piquant woodwind , temper by human perspiration . porcupine have been known to manducate on tool handles and canoe paddles . As remark above , porcupines will corrode raft of good fruit and veggies , especially if it is easy to reach . They lean to conserve their energy , so they might feed the lowest , most accessible food first . This could lead in girdling of new trees , but for the most part , porcupines do relatively little damage .
Shutterstock
Shutterstock
