Large, spiny rodent with high arched back, small black head, blunt
nose, and heavy, short tail. Spines yellowish-white tipped with dark
brown. Movements clumsy; slow, waddling gait. Total length up to 3
feet.
Common in the montane and subalpine forests of the region, the "quill
pig" has been able to thrive because his potential predators can seldom
discover that the only way to kill him, is to flip him over on his back
and rip open his belly. Many interested animals, however, come away from
a porky contact with a face or skin full of painful quills. Porcupine
protect themselves by quick erection of masses of quills and by swift
defensive swings of the spiny tail. These quills number up to 35,000 on
a single animal. They spend most of their time clinging high in the tree
branches, feeding on the green foliage and the inner bark of pine trees.
This accounts for the yellow "bare" patches sometimes seen on tree
trunks. However, they have a strong predilection for anything containing
even a fraction of salt; they will eat boots, axe handles, gun stocks,
outhouse wood, and parts of buildings--anything where human perspiration
has left a salty deposit. Porcupines, as well as smaller rodents, devour
many elk and deer antlers left in the woods. They have a strange
assortment of guttural sounds and cries which are sometimes heard at
night. These uncanny noises emitting from the dark create interesting
possibilities for more imaginative minds. The highly controversial
question of porcupine mating is solved when we understand that the
female has the muscular power of pulling in her quills closely to the
body contour, permitting normal mating procedure. The single young is
born in well-developed condition, but still enclosed in a membranous
sack.