December 30, 2011
We saw this porcupine at Brighton Ski resort near the magic carpet slopes.
"Look at that funny animal," the little girl exclaimed. She was pointing at the golden colored fuzz ball that was waddling onto Brighton's sun deck. It was the first day of the new year, January 1, and families and friends had gathered to enjoy lunch outdoors on the deck in the sunshine and warm temperatures -- even though it was the beginning of January.
The golden colored fuzz ball was a porcupine. He waddled from table to table looking for scraps. A skier offered him a piece of lettuce and he sat up on his haunches, held the lettuce in his little paws, and nibbled away at it. It was a wild animal show at Brighton!
Then he moved on from table to table. Skiers reached down to touch his long fur. He seemed totally unafraid of people. He was well armed with a tail full of quills, but porcupines are shy and gentle creatures who only use their quills to defend themselves if threatened. They do not throw quills, but they can lash with their tail and the quills will stick into whatever is in the way.
After his debut, he waddled off the deck and disappeared into a thicket. You never know what you'll find when you go to the mountains. Today was special. Happy New Year, Mr. Porcupine!
http://www.draperjournal.com/pages/full_story/9264/Brighton-gets-unexpected-v...
From Wikipedia:
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about 25--36 in (63--91 cm) long, with an 8--10 in (20--25 cm) long tail. Weighing between 12--35 lb (5.4--16 kg), they are rounded, large and slow. Porcupines come in various shades of brown, grey, and the unusual white. Porcupines' spiny protection resembles that of the unrelated erinaceomorph hedgehogs and monotreme echidnas.
The common porcupine is a herbivore. It eats leaves, herbs, twigs and green plants like skunk cabbage and clover and in the winter it may eat bark. The North American porcupine often climbs trees to find food.
The name porcupine comes from Middle French porc espin (spined pig).A regional American name for the animal is quill pig.
A porcupine is any of 29 species of rodent belonging to the families Erethizontidae (genera: Coendou, Sphiggurus, Erethizon, Echinoprocta, and Chaetomys) or Hystricidae (genera: Atherurus, Hystrix, and Trichys). Porcupines vary in size considerably: Rothschild's Porcupine of South America weighs less than a kilogram (2.2 lb (1.00 kg)); the Crested porcupine found in Italy, Sicily, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa can grow to well over 27 kg (60 lb). The two families of porcupines are quite different, and, although both belong to the Hystricognathi branch of the vast order Rodentia, they are not closely related.
The eleven Old World porcupines tend to be fairly big, and have spikes that are grouped in clusters.
The two subfamilies of New World porcupines are mostly smaller (although the North American Porcupine reaches about 85 cm/33 in in length and 18 kg/40 lb), have their quills attached singly rather than grouped in clusters, and are excellent climbers, spending much of their time in trees. The New World porcupines evolved their spines independently (through convergent evolution) and are more closely related to several other families of rodent than they are to the Old World porcupines. Porcupines have a relatively high longevity and had held the record for being the longest-living rodent, which was recently broken by the Naked Mole Rat (Heterocephalus glaber).
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Porcupine who thinks he is a puppy!by desfees2,638,216 views
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