Climbing Higher - Porcupine, Alaska
by KJ Swan
Title
Climbing Higher - Porcupine, Alaska
Artist
KJ Swan
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Description
At first, it looked as if a large clump of grass was moving through the thick under-foliage in the Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. As I approached to investigate, we startled each other. For a wonderful moment, we stared right into each others eyes. Then I grabbed my camera and he scrambled up a tree.
Despite his needle exterior, the North American porcupine is a rodent, but a unique one. Second in size only to it's larger cousin, the beaver, this native American wears his iconic quills lightly. If attacked, those quills enter the skin of a predator but they don't stop there. They work their way into the skin at a rate of 1 mm per hour making them more painful and difficult for the "now-wiser" predator to remove. A lesson well learned.
Uploaded
January 14th, 2022
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