Porcupines!

I think that most of us can agree on the fact that we won’t be handling any porcupines anytime soon. We all know them for their notorious B.A.R.B.’s (bad boy take that take that) but I would suggest that the average person has never given much thought to how beautiful a creature the porcupine actually is.

Porcupines have quills. If you have ever seen the movie "Critters,” a porcupine’s quills are large and of course dangerous. The slightest touch can dislodge them. The quills also have small barbs on them like the stinger on a bee or like the bark on a fishing hook. This means that if you’re unfortunate enough to have gotten hooked on a porcupine’s quills that you’re going to experience a significant amount of trauma removing them.

Here are some other interesting porcupine tidbits. Their backs aren’t all quills; the quills are mixed with hair. The quills will lay flat until the porcupine feels threatened and then they are extended to protect the little critters. Once the quills have come out they grow new ones.

Porcupines are herbivores, in the winter they munch on tree bark and evergreen needles. In summer they consume things like, grasses, leaves and dandelions. They have even been known to gnaw on canoe paddles at campsites. Porcupines are nocturnal and are good swimmers. I am not sure if that makes them skinny dippers or not, haa whatevs.

Porcupines live in dens, which can range from rock crevices to hollow logs to crawl spaces under your house. They seem to prefer grasslands but are equally at home in rocky terrains. The African Crested Porcupine is a native of Mount Kilimanjaro and has been spotted at elevations as high as 11,000 feet, that’s over 2 miles high.

There are about two-dozen different kinds of porcupines. Timbavati Wildlife Park is home to two different species, The North American Porcupine and the African Crested Porcupine. I think you get the “Point.” :)