• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

porcupine

Porcupines: Quill Pigs, Bark Eaters and the Adirondack Park

January 5, 2021 by Paul Hetzler Leave a Comment

Porcupine by Mary HarrschIf you’re looking for signs of wildlife this winter, forget about paw prints. One of our native mammals faithfully plows its “roads” after each snowfall, and you can often follow these channels right to the fearless critter itself.

With a truly adorable face and a rather unfriendly backside, the North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is the only animal with a six-million acre park named after it. [Read more…] about Porcupines: Quill Pigs, Bark Eaters and the Adirondack Park

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature Tagged With: nature, porcupine, small mammals, Wildlife

The Strange Lives of Porcupines

July 15, 2020 by Steve Hall Leave a Comment

Porcupine in Denali by Steve Hall North American porcupines are large rodents whose ancestors apparently crossed from Africa to South America on floating trees and logs some 30 million years ago. Their most prominent feature are the approximately 30,000 quills which grow individually everywhere out of the skin musculature, interspersed with bristles, under fur and hair.

The quills help the porcupine defend themselves from attacks by predators. The only quill free areas are the face and underside. [Read more…] about The Strange Lives of Porcupines

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: nature, porcupine, small mammals, Wildlife

Primary Sidebar

Help Us Reach Our Fundraising Goal

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • Judy Gumaer Testa on Elnathan Sears: Thirteen Months in Hell
  • Big Burly on New York’s Pirate Utopia: From Pearl Street to Execution Dock
  • Jim Sefcik on Trump Impeachment Recalls Aaron Burr’s Treason
  • Ed Zahniser on Trump Impeachment Recalls Aaron Burr’s Treason
  • Amy eckman on Trump Impeachment Recalls Aaron Burr’s Treason
  • Jennifer on Humans In Zoos: A Long History of ‘Exotic’ People Exhibitions
  • Henry Nass on Trump Impeachment Recalls Aaron Burr’s Treason
  • Jim Britell on Trump Impeachment Recalls Aaron Burr’s Treason
  • Mary Anne Goley on James Hazen Hyde: A Gilded Age Scandal
  • Bob Meyer on Poetry: Little Boy Lost

Recent New York Books

The Long Crisis
rebuilding the republic
The 20th Century Civil Rights Movement
first principles
An American Marriage
too long ago
the long year of the revolution
Notable New Yorkers of Manhattans Upper West Side
Woman Slaveholders in Jamaica
nobody hitchhikes anymore

Secondary Sidebar

New York State Historic Markers