The Porcupine and the Volunteera love story
When we were volunteers at the Olympic Wildlife Rescue Center, I met a woman that had just started as a volunteer caretaker. Although her dedication to helping injured animals was strong, she admitted that she had death's own fear of rodents. Knowing that someday, her phobia might affect her work, she was seriously thinking about quitting. As the woman was telling her story, she was changing the bandages on an injured porcupine. The creature had been hit by a car.
We'll return to our volunteer in a moment, but first --
Porcupines are among the most inoffensive creatures on the planet. They just want to go about their business in peace. To assure this, they are armed with 35 - 40,000 barbed, needle sharp quills. Porcupines take their privacy very seriously.
Contrary to popular myth, porcupines don't shoot their quills, which are actually modified hairs. The quills, are loosely attached to the skin. When disturbed, a porcupine will lash out with its tail, leaving the quills embedded in whatever happens to be in the way -- like your dog's nose for example.
And in answer to the age old question? Very carefully. The male, however, usually ends up with a face full of quills that he has to pluck out one by one. Even in the world of the gentle porcupine, the price of love is high.
And now back to our volunteer and her fear of rodents.
As the woman applied another bandage, I reminded her that porcupines are in fact -- rodents! She stopped working and stared at me for a moment. It was a long moment. She looked at the porcupine, then me, and smiled. Turning away, the volunteer quietly continued ministering to her friend.
The porcupine in the above portrait is the same one mentioned in the story. After a complete recovery, "Tina Turner" was taken to a location far from the highway where she was originally injured. With a group of volunteers looking on, and my camera clicking away, Tina poked her nose out of the carry cage and sniffed the air for a few moments. Then she slowly crawled out and ambled towards the edge of the woods. The porcupine stopped, turned her head towards us, sniffed the air again, and disappeared into the thick underbrush.
"Tina" loves her peanut butter (left). Porcupines will do almost anything for peanut butter. Look at her little feet!
(Left) Average sized North American Porcupine quills shown with a penny for scale. Porcupines have about 35-40,000 of these modified hairs.
(Right) Close up of a quill. The tip is packed with microscopic barbs that can easily become embedded in the skin of the porcupine's victim. Dog's noses for example, make great targets.
If not removed, infection can set in. Worse, the quill can work its way deeper into the body, and depending on where the entry point is, possibly pierce internal organs and cause eventual death.
Note: What ever happened to Brandy's Purple Porcupine web site Brandy's Purple Porcupine Page? It was one of the neatest sites about porcupines on the web. I am leaving the web address intact in case Brandy returns.
These photographs are © copyright 1991,1997, Carl Cook. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, including internet use. Photographs are protected by and registered with Digimarc.
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