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24 Hours: North American Porcupine (and who’s left?)

Posted on Dec 23, 2007 by in Mammalthons, Rodents | 5 comments

Erethizon dorsatum

Number 0097

Here’s a rather wild-looking porcupine for Bradley. At first, I was very frustrated with how I was drawing it, but it ended up being a crazy color extravaganza. I’m trying to think whether I’ve seen a porcupine in person, and I don’t think I have.

Okay, now we have but one mammal left to make 24! But several other people have made donations and requests. I thank those people for their patience, and I promise to draw their mammals and ship them out this coming week. Thank you so much for your donations and support. These are the people whose mammals are back-ordered, as it were. Please let me know if I missed anyone!

Kelsey M.
Nicole B.
Joanna R.
Nancy K.
Lauri D.
Stephen S.
Steve S.
Nicola G.
Luca G.
Tynan G.
Susan H.
Russell

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5 Comments

  1. Jennifer, I have really enjoyed seeing your pictures as you have been going along. Great work and a great cause. I look forward to seeing mine and all of the others that are left.

  2. Congratulations. you did it!! So just go for 36 in 36 now!

    Also, fyi, the porcupine is fairly common around New Mexico. I used to see them frequently in Taos and Las Vegas and my dog, Tippy, came home several times with nose and mouth full of quills. For a smart dog he was sure dumb about porcupines!! The last one I’ve seen, and the first in several years, was dead on the side of Tramway Blvd. just east of the casino this past summer. They have a slow lumbering gait and are often road kill. And when I was a kid they were often shot as a nuisance, mainly because they ate bark off of the aspen trees, supposedly killing the tree. I imagine they are still killed off regularly, which may help to explain why I haven’t seen any for a few years. Of course they also have an excellent camouflage appearance and are usually up in a tree, very still, and hard to see.

  3. I saw a porcupine in Flagstaff, AZ once (where I did my undergrad.). It startled me because it was clinging to a tree and looked like a very little man with a prickly coat on. He seemed relieved when I just ran past (I was on a trail run).

  4. Hi Jennifer,

    I just want to make sure you don’t forget me when you get around to the “Back Orders”. Certainly no rush. (I paypal’d with the e-mail of impt0 @[large domain].com, and requested a Fossa.) Thanks a lot.

  5. Oh, thanks, Russell! Sorry I left you off the list, but I won’t forget!

    Thanks for the porcupine info, Dad. That’s funny about the prickly little man, Joe.

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