I took this picture in the last week of January during our first lab this semester, outside of the Wachmeister Field Station. This was in the middle of the cold winter when there was a lot of snow. We saw the porcupine perched on high up in this tree. We watched him for several minutes and it remained still. Because I don’t often see porcupines I think they are so fascinating. I like this picture because it shows high up in the tree the porcupine was sitting. At first glance, one might not even notice the porcupine, which demonstrates how good they are at hiding, even in plain sight.

The common porcupine is a solitary animal, although it may den with other porcupines in the winter. It makes its den in caves, decaying logs and hollow trees. The common porcupine doesn't hibernate, but it may stay in its den during bad weather. This porcupine was alone and unmoving in this tree for as long as we were there. A porcupine may have as many as 30,000 quills. The quills are hairs with barbed tips on the ends. Quills are solid at the tip and base and hollow for most of the shaft.