May 22, 2009

No Kissing the Porcupines


On a recent ride into the mountains, we saw teeth marks like this on many of the aspen trees. There seem to be 4 teeth raking the bark.
We believe this was done by porcupines, who eat bark during the winter. The marks are all about 4 feet off the ground, probably the snow level last winter. Porcupines will occasionally eat the bark all the way around a trunk and kill the tree. (Photo at left came from Wikipedia.)

Here's Daisy after she had a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with one of those loose-quilled critters last autumn. (They don't shoot their quills, but the quills are released from a porcupine's skin easily, leaving the surprised attacker with a faceful.)
We didn't see the actual event. Daisy came running up while trying frantically to rub her snout on the ground. She had quills inside her mouth, too, and most were broken off.
Steve found a hemostat in his saddle bag and used it to pull most of the quills.
Here's one compared to an inch on a ruler.
We looked at a quill under a microscope. The black object is a pointer that points to the quill itself. You can see the tiny barbs that make extraction difficult.
Daisy had some swelling and quills working their way out of her face for a few weeks, but she suffered no significant long-term effects.
Note to our highly gifted but sometimes overly enthusiastic Daisy: next time you see a porcupine critter, do not attempt to eat it, kiss it, or touch it. Run the other way!
For more camera critters of many varieties, click here.

26 comments:

  1. Oh no!!! Hopefully that's a lesson learned for the next time (or for the next time to not happen as so).

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  2. I promise never to try to kiss a porcupine. I'm glad Daisy wasn't seriously hurt in her encounter with the porcupline -- those quills look nasty.

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  3. Yipes, Janie... I'm glad that Daisy wasn't hurt. That's scary... Hope I never encounter a Porcupine anywhere...

    have a great weekend and Mem. Day.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  4. But Janie, porcupines have such velvety soft faces. Daisy just didn't approach it right. Yet hopefully she's learned her lesson.

    What we call bark on the Aspen is actually the living ploem so many forest wildlife find it apetizing, especially during winter. A good measure of how deep the snow was.

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  5. Poor dog. Interesting microscope picture. I had read about the barbs on the quills, now I've seen them.

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  6. OUCH! Poor Daisy.Thanks for the information on porcupines.

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  7. Interesting microscopic shot..Glad
    Daisy didn't get hurt.

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  8. Oh my! Poor Daisy (we had a Daisy once, a Jack Russell, who never learnt to leave hedgehogs alone)
    Fascinating shot of the quill.

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  9. Poor Daisy! Glad she's ok & definitely hope she's learned her lesson! Nice images of the quills!

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  10. That's the first close up shot I've seen of a quill too. Ouch!

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  11. Poor Daisy .. those look very painful !!

    Yes, Daisy ...never attempt to sniff a pocupines butt ! Hopefully, that was a lesson well learned...

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  12. Poor Daisy, this must have been so painful! Hope she's better now!
    Purrs
    Luna ( and mommy Léia )

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  13. Oh joy! I am not sure what is worse, an encounter with a porcupine or a skunk. I had a rather dense Irish setter who managed to attract these critters!
    Thanks for the great photos and post Janie.
    Smiles

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  14. Ouch poor Daisy! We've had to remove some from our dog a couple of times. Not very fun.

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  15. Oh wow!! Poor Daisy!! Very informative post - thanks! Have a wonderful weekend!

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  16. So glad Daisy's dad is a doctor! Poor girl. We know all too well how being inquisitive can lead to trouble. Glad it wasn't any worse than it was. She's wiser now, for sure.

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  17. glad Daisy was OK!

    the marks on the tree are something else!

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  18. Janie: What a neat but sad story for your dog. I have seen Porcupine while hunting and they are an unusual animal.

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  19. I did not know that porcupines could climb.
    Poor Daisy. It's hard to be friendly to such a prickly critter.

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  20. ouch poor daisy. i never realised just how long each one is. fascinating post. hugs from london janie.

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  21. Poor baby. That must have hurt!

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  22. Wow! I have never seen a porcupine in our area, but they are around. I have often wondered what would happen if the dog found it first. We have had a skunk encounter and that was unpleasant, but not painful like quills.

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  23. Oh, they sure can cause a painful mess, can't they? Hopefully, Daisy learned her lesson.

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  24. Oh, poor Daisy! My gosh that looks painful...hopefully she's learned her lesson, although I expect it's hard for her to resist critters of any sort!

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  25. The marks on the aspen appear to be from elk. Elk have 8 bottom teeth and many times they use one side of the jaw to scrape bark. So they appear as rows of 4 or 8 depending upon the size of the tree...Porcupines have two sets of "chisels"; one top and one bottom...

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