by Peter Porco
If you walk or jog in our river valley parks, very early in the morning, chances are that you have encountered a porcupine. These large, peaceful, slow-moving rodents spend their night foraging for food. Each has more than 30,000 quills to defend themselves. Local coyotes instinctively know to leave them alone, a trait that is sadly lacking in their canine cousins who live with us and can cost their Calgary owners a lot of money in vet bills to remove quills (sometimes more than once). Be careful not to step on one on the path in the dark and get your dog under control quickly, if you ever encounter one.
The porcupines here are the tree dwelling North American porcupines, which commonly live 5 to 7 years but can get as old as 10 to 12 years. While they tend to avoid humans, they are sometimes attracted to food sources in our yards. They eat plants, including leaves, berries, twigs, and roots in the summer, and inner tree bark and conifer needles in the winter. They have strong teeth and are known to gnaw on human-made items like wood and leather, which they do to sharpen their teeth and because of a craving for salt.
Porcupines tend to be solitary animals, though they may share dens in winter. Our porcupines breed in the late summer or fall and have a single porcupette between April and June. They are born with soft quills that harden within hours.
If porcupines are damaging your trees, they can be discouraged by the smell of ammonia/bleach, since they hate the strong pungent odour.
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