porcupines, strange what they'll eat

   / porcupines, strange what they'll eat #12  
Porcupines definitely look for salt. Including road salt covered auto parts, discarded antlers, etc. And if you're the sort who pees on his property to mark boundaries, well, that's no boundary to a porcupine, that's just salt :)
 
   / porcupines, strange what they'll eat #14  
I fed mine Munich style rye Bread. And apples.

They are SWEET, loving animals. Albeit a bit stinky.
 
   / porcupines, strange what they'll eat #15  
I fed mine Munich style rye Bread. And apples.

They are SWEET, loving animals. Albeit a bit stinky.
I have often thought they are actually very sweet animals too. They're murder on my fruit trees, I have to use electric fences to keep them off, but otherwise I don't mind having them around.
 
   / porcupines, strange what they'll eat #16  
IMO ferrets are the stinky ones and minks make better pets.

(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaE309xZTS4XdecZSoaYzFg)

btw, if Arly didn't see wood 'flakes' on the ground under kiosks they were eating the stuff. Beavers will dine on cellulose too. Horses and deer can be tough on trees as well, esp small ones. Even rabbits will nibble their bark when snow is too deep to get under for food.
 
   / porcupines, strange what they'll eat #18  
I've seen it before. Years ago I went camping in a state park with the church youth group and the sides of the lean-to we stayed in was badly chewed for the bottom 2 feet or so; at the height where guys had been relieving themselves against the plywood for years.
The guys slept in the leanto, I think the girls had a camp to stay in. That night we were awoken to the sound of them chewing on the wall. When I awoke the next morning I found quills stuck in the shell of my sleeping bag, where a porky had walked between the sleepers in the night.
Wow, that would have put a new spin on "a rude awakening"
 
   / porcupines, strange what they'll eat #19  
Never knew they could climb
I don't know if they spend the night in trees, but I know porcupines like to nap in trees. I've even seen them 40 feet up in a pine tree during the day, apparently just snoozing. I've also had them nap in my fruit trees. They're slow and awkward climbers, but ... effective enough.
 
   / porcupines, strange what they'll eat #20  
I don't know if they spend the night in trees, but I know porcupines like to nap in trees. I've even seen them 40 feet up in a pine tree during the day, apparently just snoozing. I've also had them nap in my fruit trees. They're slow and awkward climbers, but ... effective enough.
When running a feller/buncher (a tree cutter for a logging operation), I had to cut down a tree with a porky in the top of it. I gently laid the tree over, but didn't drop it like usual. I didn't want to bury the porky in the tree pile. I just shook the tree barely above the pile before he dropped off and ran away. Jon
 
 
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