PORCUPINE PREDICAMENTS

Rex Burress

Did you ever see a middle-aged man out in his pajamas at 2:00 A.M. with a garbage can in one hand and a ping pong paddle in the other? “These crazy Americans are not only involved in elections, but there is a bunch devoted to the wild life,” a witness might speculate!

In this case it was at Camp Pinecroft in the mountains near Colfax, CA, and the cabin I was staying in with my family about 1963, was properly named “Alpine.” What propelled me out of bed was a large porcupine walking down the path! It so happened that we had wanted a porcupine for our Junior Nature Zoo at Lake Merritt in Oakland where I worked, and here was the chance! I caught it in a wild scramble with the paddle and can without getting spined [they are slow]. I was thus able to borrow a plump porcupine from the forest to aid in our outdoor education program for awhile.

During the few years “Gus” was a guest at the refuge, he was gentle and content to have a carrot to nibble on to boast its herbivorous nature. [I don't know who sexed “him”] A quill could be easily extracted to show students. When I took it back to the forest a few years later for release, he went ambling back down the path as if nothing ever happened...to soon climb a yellow pine and continue chewing on bark and twigs! They are the longest living rodents at 27 years, and the third largest behind the capybara and beaver.

From time to time, I like to pick out one wild animal species and share the story, and this week it is the placid rodent from the pine forests. Porcupines are uniquely adapted to climb pines and live in the canopy for long periods of time, chewing and digesting bark and pine needles, especially the Ponderosa Pine. I am reminded of tree sloths and koalas in describing their characteristics, as well as portraying a beaver in size and gnawing abilities.

Of course, it is the sharp spines on the back that sets porcupines apart. North America has only one species, Erethizon dorsatum, but all told there are 29 species in the world, and they all have quills. Those modified hairs, coated with a thick coat of keratin, are hollow and barbed. They come out of the porcupine's bristling back easily and go into flesh easily but are very difficult to remove---a formidable defensive system.

Porcupines and skunks both have a rather belligerent attitude when affronted, knowing they have repellants. The warnings go up--”don't tred on me”-- one with aroused spines and one with uplifted tail, and any one inclined to “do thee harm” best pass it by. Only the fisher, and sometimes a coyote, are able to flip a porcupine over and attack the soft, quill-less belly.

A story was told to me by my deceased rockhound friend Elmer Moore about when he was rock hunting in a petrified forest near Yellowstone Park one time. [There is an abundance of prehistoric history in those parts, discovered by Mountain Man Jim Coulter, who said there were petrified birds singing petrified songs in the Yellowstone basin!]. A thunderstorm came upon Elmer and he spotted a shallow cave and took refuge, but snuggled up on one side of the opening was a big porcupine! Some kind of mutual understanding developed, and thus they compromised and shared the cave during the storm, Elmer in one corner and beast in the other!

Porcupines usually stick to the mountainous yellow pine forests at about the 5,000-foot elevation, but do drop down the Feather River Canyon occasionally. Normally they aren't seen around Oroville, but along the Diversion Pool there is a rare grove of Ponderosa Pine growing along the edge. I found a lone porcupine in the branches chewing away as if getting a refresher on its journey. It is a mystery of how the isolated trees and single porcupine were there, but in this day and age you never rule out human tinkering with introducing species around the world.

For that matter, Loren Gill brought down three Ponderosa Pine from the Berry Creek area and planted them near the Feather River Nature Center where you can see them now, adjacent to the Fish Barrier Dam. Introduced trees dominate the entire town of Oroville, actually contributing greatly to the beauty of “Tree City, U.S.A.!” Should we welcome the potential coming of porcupines?

"God must have a sense of humor, for he made odd animals like the porcupine!" [Some say humans, too!]