Words of Wisdom from a Porcupine

Advice from a Porcupine 

• Spend Time in the Woods

• Remember Your Good Points

• Have a Gentle Spirit

• Don’t Needle Your Friends

• It’s OK to be a Slowpoke

• Stay Sharp

• Stick Up for Yourself!

Porcupines are slow-moving large rodents with coats of sharp spines or quills. These medium-sized mammals have poor eyesight and rely on their sense of hearing and smell, as well as their quills, to avoid predators.  

The porcupine is not an aggressive animal and will not attack unless it feels it is being threatened. Once threatened, porcupines will chatter their teeth and give off a chemical odour to warn off predators.  If the threat continues, porcupines will turn their backs, raise their quills and lash with their tails. Porcupines don’t shoot quills but stick them into predators by swinging their tails.  Porcupines are slow moving animals so a predator has to be next to a porcupine to suffer a quill attack.  

 Porcupine quills are long and light. Losing quills does not harm the porcupine since they are not deeply rooted in the skin.  The quills are not poisonous, but they can pack a punch.  If your pet gets quilled, you should take it to a veterinarian as soon as possible. The quills can get broken inside and will start to move around inside the skin.  This could result in infections.  When the porcupine spikes you or your pet, it puts you at risk of developing diseases such as rabies.  

What should you do if you see a porcupine?  Just stay clear. Keep your distance and respect its personal space.

The quills on a porcupine vary in length.  The longest ones are the back and the shortest ones are on the face.  The quills are hollow and actually help porcupines float.  Porcupines are good swimmers.

Porcupines are mainly solitary and nocturnal but sometimes they forage during the day.  They eat trees, dropping branches along the way, which in turn provides habitat for other animals. In the spring and summer they shift to eating berries, seeds, grasses, leaves, roots and stems. At the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, their favourite food item is corn on the cob.

During the day they sleep in a tree or a hollow log or among rocks or tree roots.  They do not build a nest.  In winter they might den up with other porcupines, but usually they are solitary except for a mother and baby.  A group of porcupines is called a ‘pickle’.  Porcupines are mammals and give birth to live young.  Usually only one newborn porcupine arrives in the spring.

Porcupines can live from up to 10 to 20 years.  They are considered to be intelligent and are rapid learners with good memories.  Here are my thoughts about the sayings I found on the Porcupine bookmark.

Advice from a Porcupine 

• Spend Time in the Woods - Get outside and enjoy nature

• Remember Your Good Points - Develop your strengths and share your talents

• Have a Gentle Spirit - Be kind to others

• Don’t Needle Your Friends - Support one another and encourage others to do their best

• It’s OK to be a Slowpoke - Slow and steady wins the race

• Stay Sharp - Keep using your brain - reading, learning new things

• Stick Up for Yourself! - Be assertive and stand up for yourself 

Have a great day everyone.  

# living life abundantly  # published author   # travelling tuesdays