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It is Tuesday all day long and half the night and Tuesday as we all know is creature day this week we have the North American Porcupine.
It has a coat of prickly quills over its body a nice pointy warning that it's not going to be easy prey, the needle like spines lay flat until it feels threatened when they pop up on command.
It is considered the largest of its species at a length of 1 metre which is 3.3feet and has more than 30,000 barbed quills. All naturally have a sharp tip which is difficult to remove once in the skin of a predator or silly human. All quills lost are soon replaced with a new one.
They are great climbers and spend a lot of time in trees, they use their front teeth to devour wood, bark and stems and have even been known to chew on canoe paddles.
I can understand that the coat of prickly quills warns potential predators to stay away. But even if the spines lay flat when the porcupine wants to lie down in comfort, falling over or hiding quickly would not give the poor animal time to flatten his own quills.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want to touch them
DeleteOh my goodness Jo-Anne, they sure don't have a pleasant face.
ReplyDeleteYou don't want to get on the bad side of these prickly beasts!
ReplyDeleteThat's for sure
DeleteMost encounters around here are with dogs who don't know any better--lol! Dogs seem to be the most common to show up with quills embedded into their faces. Those quills are really hard and painful to remove, too, I've heard.
ReplyDeleteSilly dogs
DeleteWe definitely stay away from these guys. You can end up with a VERY expensive Doctor or Vet bill!!!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah
DeleteThat's for sure
DeleteDogs get hurt a lot by these critters.
ReplyDeleteI know I said silly dogs above but really don't want to hear of them being hurt
DeleteI didn't realize that they were that long. Thanks for sharing them with us.
ReplyDelete.Same here
DeleteI was going to say they remind me of a song- but on reflection, the song involved a beaver...
ReplyDelete