Porcupine

While exploring a cave in Central Massachusetts, Hooch spotted this prickly fellow basking in the sun outside his lair far up on a ledge. I quickly scrambled up the cliff and over piles of Porcupine droppings and shed quills to get a closer look. Surprisingly, the porcupine allowed me to get about three feet from it to snap these pictures before it began to retreat into its cave. Though this animal looks cute with its pigeon-toed hobble and its funny squeals and grunts, its quills (hairs modified to sharp mostly hollow spines) are very painful. If you plan on petting a Porcupine, you might want to try the underside which has hair that is very long, soft and wooly. Now if you can figure out how to get a porcupine to roll over for you, let me know!