Guess what!
The center got a new education animal earlier this week!
A porcupine!
I am super excited and think that he is adorable. I took a few pictures on his first day. He is getting to know his new enclosure and slowly exploring it and the staff. Like the rest of our education animals, Spike could not survive in the wild; he has been with people since he was a porcupinette.With a little training he will make a great education animal to use in the porcupine quillwork class and a few others.
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| Checking things out |
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| Starting to climb |
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| Made it! |
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| How awesome is he? |
As you can imagine, many folks do not know much about this rodent. So here's a few fun facts for you.
- Weighing in at up to 40 pounds, porcupines are the second largest rodent in North America behind the beaver.
- A porcupine can have 40,000 quills.
- They are herbivores and often fall out of trees. Not because they are clumsy but because they are trying to get to tasty tree buds and tender branches.
- The porcupine and skunk are the only 2 mammals in North America that are black and white. They benefit from letting others know who and where they are at all times of the day and night. In other words, even though they see you, no one wants to mess with you!
- Natural predators include fishers, great horned owls, wolverines, mountain lions and humans.
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