cute!

DURRR...

the laws of the wild demanded that you did no less

Honestly? They haven't evolved much of an escape instinct on account of HAY WANT SOME NEEDLES? :D

True enough. Their primary defensive move is turning away and hiding their head to protect it. It did that at first. But running, and running past many places it could've hidden or escaped to was just so freaking stupid. I could have easily caught it if I really wanted to just by pinning it with my boot or something. Any critter that really wanted to tangle with it would have had an easy time getting a muzzle full of quills. Usually they go up a tree or head for a little hollow to hide. It ran past both trees and hollows and finally scooted under a rock where it was too big to fit. Durrrrr!

Porcupines never evolved to have to run to escape because they have all those quills for a reason and I've seen any number of curious dogs of varying intelligence come back in pain with quills in their nose to show testament to how effective they are. Growing up in Maine, we'd see them all the time up in a tree chewing on the bark and they were usually pretty fat and in good health because they don't have to worry about predators.

At least around here they have predators. The porkys are overpopulated so DEC (re)introduced fishers. They seem to be about the only thing that can take care of them without being turned into pincushions.

Because of this article I did a search about pine martens and fishers, apparently I was never aware there was such a large population of them. It totally makes sense with the fisher being so ferocious, low to the ground, and quick, they could handle a porcupine. All they would have to do is wait until they're climbing the tree and then come down the tree at them as I've never seen a porcupine climb face down a tree. It's good to know something is keeping them in check since they're cute and all but they destroy trees. :) Before now I only thought truck tires were their only predator.

They don't just destroy trees. They chew on just about everything. I did see some pretty extreme porcupine damage last weekend. There were a bunch of pitch pines near Mud Pond (Haseco Lake/Lily Pond/etc.) with severe damage that has to be from porkys. Also the new John Robb lean-to has been up about a year and already has porcupine damage on it. They chew on tires and aluminum too. I'll have to post some of the pictures I have of alloy engine headers that have been chewed away by porkys.

aluminum? Wow, that's really odd. We had one attack my father's shed but it just chewed the bark off the logs he used to make it but left the aluminum roofing alone. Must be the same sorta thing where cats will chew on cables, or maybe it helps them hone/shave their teeth.

Metal no trespassing signs or old metal trail markers in the Catskills almost always have scratch marks around the edges where porkys have been at them.

Could be they inadvertently clawed them in their attempts to climb the trees/poles if it's just claw marks.

Actually, I'd guess that it's exactly what you suggested - tooth control. Porcies are rodents - their teeth never stop growing, and have to be gnawed down in order to keep them from growing back and curling around inside their mouths. Normally, gnawing on wood does that, but some of them have probably found that relatively soft metals do a bang-up job of it.

Also, they're a critter that craves salt. Road signs, tires, and that sort of thing, regularly getting sprayed with the stuff during the winter, are probably a handy source, along with anything that's handled regularly (sweat). Try putting out salt-licks some time, that might actually help reduce the porcie damage.

But my guess is that this guy was a little on the slow side, yeah. Probably skipped the tree because climbing would involve exposing his underbelly, but going past the hollows... yeah, that's stupid.