Porcupine Dens in my Yard Confirmed by Trailcam

A porcupine heads out for a snack in the dark of night. The
grizzled white areas on it's back and tail are the areas of
heaviest quill concentration.
Photo by Brad Sylvester. Copyright 2012, Do not copy.

In my previous entry, I wrote about a path of footprints leading out from two holes in the ground in the forested part of my yard. Well, for each of the last two nights, my trailcam has captured pictures of the creatures that are using the underground dens to escape the winter cold. As I suspected, they are porcupines or taxonomically speaking, Erethizon dorsatum.

The resolution of the camera is not high enough to tell for certain how many individuals are living in the dens, but from size differences of those porcupines photographed, I would say there are at least three. At least one is much smaller than the others and was probably born this past summer. I have known that porcupines lived on my property for some time, but I did not know they had a den here. Indeed, it may be only a temporary den for the winter as I have never seen tracks or other signs of porcupine occupancy there prior to last week.

Although generally nocturnal, it's not too unusual to
see procupines during daylight hours. This one, shown
disappearing into its den, was active in the middle
of the afternoon.
Photo by Brad Sylvester. Copyright 2012. Do not copy.

Porcupines are generally nocturnal feeders, but can be found out and about during daylight and dusk from time to time as well. As I mentioned last time, they don't hibernate or even fall into a winter torpor. Their thick coating of hair and quills provide them with insulation and there primary foods are available all year round.

Porcupines can cause terrible injury in dogs or any animal that attempts to touch them, but they are one of nature's best examples of a passive-aggressive creature. Porcupines respond to threats by turning away and slowly walking off as if they have no care in the world. In reality, their tails and backs are where their quills are thickest. Any attack from the rear is almost certain to result in more pain and injury to the attacker than to the porcupine. If the attacker gets too close for comfort, the porcupine will flick its quill-covered tail at them and do its best to turn the attacker into a pin cushion.

Porcupette Video. Copyright Brad Sylvester 2012

Porcupine quills have a very sharp point at the end and have small, scale-like barks that prevent them from being easily backed out once the penetrate the skin. Instead, they actually work themselves deeper over time. Porcupine quills can be quite painful and may result in serious infections if not removed and the wounds treated.



A porcupette looks down from an overhead branch. The
rodent's chisel-like incisors are visible.
Photo by brad Sylvester. Copyright 2010. Do not copy.

 Despite this defensive armament, the porcupine does fall victim to several New England forest predators on a regular basis. The most accomplished porcupine hunter is probably the fisher cat. I've been told that fishers attack porcupines in one of two ways. They'll harry the porcupine using their own speed and agility to stay out of reach. The fisher attacks the porcupine's head until the porcupine is completely exhausted (or dead) and can no longer turn its back fast enough to defend itself. Then the fisher will flip the porcupine over and eat from its unprotected underside. Another technique is to attack a treed porcupine from below as it clings to a branch. From that angle, its unquilled belly is exposed. I haven't seen either of these behaviors to confirm these modes of attack, but that's what folks around here say.

Trailcam video. Copyright Brad Sylvester 2012.

Bobcats and coyotes are also known to kill and eat porcupines as well. The head is largely undefended and frontal attacks against the porcupine are the least dangerous for the attacker. We have all three porcupine predators in New Hampshire and both bobcats and coyotes have been present on my property on more than one occasion since I moved here in 2007.

Quick Facts About the Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum)

Size: Porcupines are the second largest rodent in North America. Only beavers are bigger. Adult male porcupines can weigh 35 pounds or more, but 12-15 pounds is a more common adult weight. Porcupines may measure more than three feet long and over a foot tall at the shoulder.

Lifespan: up to 15 years in the wild

Diet: Mainly the soft inner bark of trees, young evergreen needles, and plant buds. Hemlock is a favorite. In the spring and summer, porcupines will also eat grass and other green plants, fermenting fruit, seeds and some tubers. They are also known to chew treated wood or even rubber for the salt and mineral taste and may become a nuisance by eating the bark of fruit trees, sometimes girdling branches or the trunk and killing them. As a child, I remember hiking the Long Trail in Vermont and often finding porcupines chewing away contently at the wooden lean-tos built along the trail by the Forestry Service.

Where does it live? Porcupines live throughout the northern United States and Canada. According the IUCN information page, it can also be found further south in the west, even into northern Mexico.

Habitat: Porcupines most often inhabitat mixed forests, but in the spring can be found feeding on grass in open fields, especially when they are caring for a young porcupette. In the southwest, says the IUCN, they may live in desert scrub. Further north, they also live in the Canadian tundra.

When is it here? The North American porcupine lives in New Hampshire all year round?

Where does it go in winter? No place special, the porcupine does not hibernate or fall into a winter torpor. If the weather is especially cold or severe, they may form communal dens for a time during the winter, leaving each night to feed.

Breeding: Porcupines mate from September to December. They give birth usually to a single baby about seven months later. Males often fight viciously and noisily over females during mating season.

IUCN redlist status: Species of least concern. Wide distribution and large population.

Notes of interest: Each porcupine has over 30 quills. Baby porcupines are called porcupettes. Porcupines are very good climbers, but slow and awkward on the ground.

Porcupine Taxonomy:
Phylum: Chordata
Class:  Mammalia (Mammals)
Order: Rodentia (Rodents)
Family: Erethizontidae
Genus: Erethizon
Species: Erethizon dorsatum

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Update: My new YouTube channel: @WhatLivesinmyYard talks about the porcupine in Episode 1.