Hello and welcome back. This week I have some great images of a porcupine with whom I spent some time last weekend.
I was checking on a nest box and as I was returning to my truck I saw a large fuzzy rock wiggling on a nearby hillside. I grabbed the binoculars thinking that maybe this was the same porcupine that I had spotted in the area before.
I can’t say for sure this is the exact same animal but there has been a blonde coloured porcupine around this area for a couple of years now, hopefully thriving in this relatively quiet space.
I can’t tell if this is a male or female porcupine but I learned that porcupines in the north mate in November or December and the gestation period is 30 weeks. This means that if this is a female porcupine she is due between April and May. Porcupines only have one baby, twins are almost unheard of.
The young are born with eyes open, teeth ready to chew and dense black hair, in which their quills are already formed. At birth their quills are soft but harden when exposed to air. Young are weaned after about 10 days and by September/October they are all on their own.
I guess I’ll be returning here a few times in the next two months in the hopes of catching a glimpse of a youngster, called a porcupette.
I hope you enjoyed the images of this snow-capped beauty.