Porcupine Erethizon dorsatum

[Robson Valley]

One of our local rodent beasts. I'm guessing that this is an adult and about 24-30" long, quills included.
They don't need speed or agility but only the Mustelid, the Fisher (Martes pennanti), seems to be an effective predator.
Good quills still sell for some $15/g, to be used in very elaborate embroidery, often on a birch bark ground.

 

[Goatboy]

Great pictures, have only ever seen them in captivity and they're interesting to watch.

Didn't know the Fisher hunted them, but that's mustelids for you (mental). I watched a lovely program on wolverines (Gulo gulo) the other day. Must say that it's the animal that I crave most to see in the wild. The footage in this show was fantastic, also had a chap in it who was raising two kit orphans. Watching him play and train these to animals was brilliant to watch.

Thanks for taking the time to post up.

 

[mrcharly]

I've only seen them in a zoo - it was a slight surprise as they were one of the few animals housed so you could reach down and feed them. The mythical reputation has them being aggressively defensive at the sniff of danger. These zoo-housed ones were as docile as a pet dog, snuffling after food and a pat on the head.

 

[Robson Valley]

When I compress a 35+ years of 10-30 days in the bush each year, I've seen just about everything we have through chance encounters.
One cougar. One Grizz. Bunch of other cats. A few wolves and coyotes. One Fisher. Maybe a dozen Black bears. Heaps of deer, a few elk and moose.
More often than not, you drive around a corner on a logging road and there's some critter standing in front of you or running across the road.
This and other Porkies are never in any hurry to be somewhere else.
On wide open grazing leases carved out of the forest (2-3 square miles) in September, there's a very good opportunity to go "game-spotting"
in the late afternoons. I have a Nikon Prostaff 82mm spotting scope (20-60X) for a closer look. Up top, the goats and sheep are in fairly predictable locations.
Leon Lorenz has been able to make a career out of wildlife photography films and stills. None of the rest of us will ever come close to what he's seen.

 

[Robson Valley]

Here's a juvenile, not much bigger than a loaf of bread.
The little fellow panicked and tried to get away in the roadside bushes.
Only to get high-centered and flipped over!