On today’s episode of “I have the most amazing life ever”…. Aww, Chonkers is such good boy 🥹🥰😍 I’m so happy to see him back in the house, enjoying his snackies.
He snuck up on us early last night and had to scratch at the door to get our attention. He was even softly 'mooping' as he came in. Really felt like he was back to his old self. :)
@@joels7605 I know you guys were worried that he’d hold a grudge over the whole rehab thing, and I’m so, so glad you can put those concerns to rest. He’s so happy to be back! He may have a limp but honestly, he’s recovered SO MUCH better than I thought he would. He looks so good! And he’s such a happy boy to be back home with his peanuts and his apples and his ladies ❤️ The missing tooth doesn’t seem to be an issue either. The ONLY thing I’ve noticed is that he doesn’t sit up like he used to, to eat his apples. Small price to pay I suppose. Does he still play with cup?
@@Forest_Friend Happy dance! 💃🏼 I love this so much! Especially that he was talking to you 🥹 He is the sweetest, kindest boy ❤️ I wonder if being at Hope for Wildlife might have changed his schedule a tiny bit 🤔 (if he’s showing up earlier than usual). Have you seen him with any of the other porcupines?
@@joels7605 After he leaves his warm den for the cold walk to your house, the cold probably contributes to the leg's stiffness. May be a little arthritis in there too. I wonder if he'd like some avocado for its healing oils.
Thanks for the information! I didn't know which were guard hairs and which were quills. It's also very interesting that his back quills are hidden under his winter fur.
Aww, this is so profoundly sweet to see and hear Chonkers happily munching away. I flashed back to when he was in the hospital and how he cried when he saw you both. He seems to be such an old wise soul. He is so happy to be home again. What a treat for all of us to know he is well and visiting you often again. The most prayed-over porcupine ever. This is so good to learn about their quills and fur. I always thought they 'shot' their quills out before so this is good to know. Thank you.
Thank you! Very interesting. I had no idea that his back had hidden quills under the fur. I was wondering why their backs seem unguarded. Great information on a fascinating creature. Love your channel! ❤❤❤
I agree with Pearl ! We will be able to start recognizing who is who between all the cute porcupines from the info. you gave us. So thanks for that! And it's nice to see cute little Chonkers! ❤
What a fascinating porcupine lesson. I'm so pleased to see Chonkers looking wonderfully fit and healthy, and fat, munching away while you used him to demonstrate the parts of a porcupine that are most dangerous - so basically their quills are for defence above all rather than aggression, it seems. And they are all such individual personalities. Thank you for all your time and trouble, both looking after them so wonderfully and telling us about them.
I wrote my comment and it disappeared the first hour. I don't remember what I said. Thank you for the tour of Chonkers' body and quills. I learned a lot. I want to pet Chonkers soft belly. Love you Chonkers and I am so happy to see you visiting the house, eating, and warming up. You are such a sweetheart. 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
Thank you Chonkers for being such a great model for the lecture today 😊 You may be big, but you’re still really cute too 💙 Bravo, sir 👏🏼 That was great! I know there are a lot of scientific terms to describe some of the anatomy of the NA Porcupine, but overall, very accurate & informative! If I may add to some of the stuff you have said, nothing wrong, just an addendum. It is a lot easier to see what Joel means in terms of the “rosette” of the NA Porcupine if you look at a picture of either the Cape Porcupine or the African Crested Porcupine, though Old World & New World porcupines are *not* closely related. There are a lot of videos out there where you can see either a Cape or African Crested Porcupine being chased by a leopard & they have their quills up in a “crest”. That’s the same general idea of the rosette in the NA Porcupine. You can see how they purposely turn their back sides toward the predator & back straight into them to dislodge their quills. Once the leopard has had enough or is really hurt, the porcupine then saunters away! The parents will also keep their porcupettes in the centre while the parents turn their backs out to form like a “shield” to protect them. Quills generally have a banded pattern, so it’s an alternating black & white along the shaft. Quills are also barbed at the tips, which helps it anchor into the predator’s flesh & it actually keeps going deeper as time goes on. Each quill is associated with an arrector pili muscle, it operates by same principle as humans & goosebumps. Also, quills are hollow, which allows for more flexibility & the bonus is- it makes them great swimmers, despite their short little legs!
Thanks for jumping in. Also I am far from an expert, so if I said anything wrong feel free to correct me. I'd hate to spread bad info about our little buddies.
@@sharim Yes, it sure is! The quills are modified hairs with a hard layer of keratin on the exterior. The quills have some fatty acids that coats each individual quill & it’s the fatty acids that contain antimicrobial properties. I believe there was a study that came out to say that the fatty acids inhibit gram-positive bacteria but not gram-negative
@ No doubt, we can *_a lot!_* I should also add, on the studies that show the antimicrobial properties of their quills, it also mentioned that the researcher also examined 30-50 skeletal remains of porcupines & found many healed fractures. The way I read it, it seemed like the researcher was alluding to the antimicrobial properties of quills _also_ helped in the healing fractures, but obviously can’t state it as fact yet.
I think its so awesome that they know you are their food provider and caretaker. Even though they are still wild. Wonder if they "tell" others about you........😂❤😊 I know it would make me feel so good to see them on the regular, it has to make you feel good too.
Chonkers has a very handsome tail❗ Those guardhairs on his head remind me of 'curb feelers' that cars had in the 50s(?). Or picture a cat with whiskers all-over their heads.
Those hairs may be an aid as he walks through the dark. He can sense his surroundings using them, just like cats use their whiskers. Very efficient and effective in low light situations.
Very interesting he has put so much weight on and looks very healthy,you are very good people and look after them all so well they have tails that look the same as beavers are they related and do they like the snow🌨❤🌨
Chonkers!! What a sweet boy, I am so glad he is doing so well and doesn’t have a grudge or fear after everything. Btw why did you name him Chonkers? I am assuming it’s because he is chonky but he doesn’t seem that big, is he bigger than the others? Thanks for the video about the quills it was a lot of info I didn’t know and was very interested in it all!
Chestnut is a bit bigger, but we met Chonkers first. Also, we'd only been interacting with Quilbert and Prickly as babies before Chonkers arrived, so we were amazed at how much bigger an adult was. We did get a few comments from the rehabbers about how they were impressed that he weighed in at nearly 25 pounds on arrival.
@@Forest_FriendWow he weighs more than my fat pug! She’s 23 lbs (vet says she is fine, not obese, just a pug) so he IS a BIG boy! It is impressive that Chestnut is even bigger than him, I wonder how much she weighs. In any case I think the name Chonkers is adorable and perfect for him.
@@Forest_Friend Since the quills are hollow, all his weight is actual ‘porcupine’, not his coat or quills. A porcu-fact I found particularly interesting was that since the quills are hollow, they are buoyant in water, which helps the porcupines float. I just couldn’t imagine one of these huge, waddling porkies swimming, but I guess they do. Have you guys ever seen one swimming?
Weirdly, I think it all started because of a groundhog, Harley. He showed up on the deck super skinny, scarfing down birdseed. So we gave him a peanut butter sandwich, and from there Harley got pretty friendly, to the point we let him visit inside the house. There were places like the doorway that he'd rub his face on. A lot of the porcupines sniff the same spots and will also rub their faces on it. So, I don't know exactly what Harley "wrote" on the door, but it seems like he left a glowing review.
Some porcupines started hanging around in the yard, then on the deck, then Forest Friend told me to not let them in the house, then I let Quilbert in the house.
@joels7605 My thanks to both you & Forest Friend for being so kind to God's little creatures. Thanks as well for being both entertaining and humorous to God's bigger creatures who are ruining the planet.
I sent Joel a picture of Frankie, our local HOA "friendly gator" by his usual HOA retention pond, relaxing on shore, catching rays in our FREEZIN' 51 degrees Florida weather!! You have idea how cold it is!!! 🤐
Chonkers was a very helpful porcupine anatomy assistant. That’s interesting those guard hairs are soft and more like whiskers. The predators probably don’t know that but they still look menacing
Thank you for the Porcupine Quillogy lesson. Great seeing him in the house so comfortable. I'm sure his leg must still be bothering him a bit, especially in the cold. Is his tooth regrowing?
Porcupine quills are actually modified hairs. So when they "fluff up" their quills, it is kind of the equivalent of hair standing on end (like when a cat fluffs up its hair).
Thank you for this! Super interesting. I love that Chonkers is so docile with you guys. I hope he isn't still in pain... This is a much needed distraction today. Many of us are spiraling in the country south of you. 😢
"Chonkers defensive area" -- What football defensive position does Chonkers play, and will he enter the college football transfer portal looking for Big Bucks ($$$)??? 🥰
Do they continually grow? Do they comeback? Do they fall out as time goes by and then get replaced ? Are they like our figernails and need to be worn down by rubbing up against stuff (like a cat claws furneture, etc.) How do porcupine's relate to each other (not mating) - do they lift up their head and front paws to greet each other or nuzzle each other somehow side by side low-ly? Are their teeth always growing so they need to always be chomping like some animals. I have been around house cats and outside cats and kind of learned their body language - or tail language per se.
I don't know all the answers, but I'm gonna give it a shot. From what I gather, their quills are essentially very thick hairs. They definitely shed them. We were finding so many on the deck in the spring, but they occasionally lose them year round. I think they must get replaced, also like hair, because procupines who get mange lose their quills (and fur) but can regrow and be released. Their greetings seem to be more vocal than touch. Spike and Squeak would call out to each other when they were looking for each other. Some of them sort of softly say, "moop moop" when they see us (might be a greeting, or might be begging for food, or something else.) We also noticed with some of them, if we call out "Goodnight" when they're leaving, they "Moop moop" back. When Chonkers is courting, he has a song that starts on a high note, and goes down. When Chestnut has had enough of his singing, she sometimes replies in what I can best describe as an old timey mobster voice: "Myeh!" Minor disagreements over which peanuts belong to whom go back and forth and sound almost exactly like Minecraft villagers. They're rodents, so I think their front teeth are always growing. For their body language, the angle of the quills says a LOT. But they also emit a smell when they're stressed (kind of like pine trees if they could go bad) and they'll chatter their teeth too.
I read that the quills, like other hair, do grow back. If my friends ask me what I’ve been up to, I can always cite new and exciting porcu-facts, tho I’m no expert like Dr Joel. Speaking of which, will there be a ‘Quill Quiz’?
Chonkers just looks like a giant fuzzball, a dangerous giant fuzzball. I want to cuddle him so badly. It's okay, I am tattooed, he can just give me more tattoos with his quills. lol Also thanks for the class on porcupines quills. ❤
My theory is they are wealthy eccentric inventors who live on land they inherited from their wealthy eccentric grandfather. They continue to invent things so fantastic we cannot even imagine. The photo with the goggles is wonderful to stir the imagination. 😂
And far less scary, even with the quills. I wonder if the Porcupine Camp might be hiring? I could easily be head of Peanut Distribution, or Sweet Potato Skinner, or even Quill-Picker-Outer? Any thoughts, guys? I’d work for room-and-board-just throw some peanuts my way….
We're way out in the middle of the woods. These little guys probably don't have many opportunities to meet other people. They just saw the groundhog and other critters coming up for a snack and decided that it was a safe place to be.
@@joels7605 yeah I'm glad you posted it all on the web, I hope whomever did that rethinks his/her attitude to wildlife, they know how much Chonkers is loved now. Hope springs eternal.
Thank you for the tutorial! I've been wondering how you tell them apart and how you differentiate males and females. Chonkers is such a sweet porcupine. 🤎
I love chonkers!❤❤❤
I also love Chonkers ❤
So do i❤
On today’s episode of “I have the most amazing life ever”….
Aww, Chonkers is such good boy 🥹🥰😍 I’m so happy to see him back in the house, enjoying his snackies.
He's been around a lot over the last few days. We're so relieved.
He snuck up on us early last night and had to scratch at the door to get our attention. He was even softly 'mooping' as he came in. Really felt like he was back to his old self. :)
@@Forest_FriendI'm so glad! I've been on tenterhooks since he came home, worrying about his well-being.
@@joels7605 I know you guys were worried that he’d hold a grudge over the whole rehab thing, and I’m so, so glad you can put those concerns to rest. He’s so happy to be back! He may have a limp but honestly, he’s recovered SO MUCH better than I thought he would. He looks so good! And he’s such a happy boy to be back home with his peanuts and his apples and his ladies ❤️ The missing tooth doesn’t seem to be an issue either. The ONLY thing I’ve noticed is that he doesn’t sit up like he used to, to eat his apples. Small price to pay I suppose. Does he still play with cup?
@@Forest_Friend Happy dance! 💃🏼 I love this so much! Especially that he was talking to you 🥹 He is the sweetest, kindest boy ❤️ I wonder if being at Hope for Wildlife might have changed his schedule a tiny bit 🤔 (if he’s showing up earlier than usual). Have you seen him with any of the other porcupines?
I'm so thrilled with his progress. I really didn't expect him to live a normal life again. Thankfully he got the best TLC.
Good to see Chonkers munching away! Calm.....enjoying inside time!
Chonkers just loves his apple, thanks Joel for explaining their areas to stay out of!😊 ❤❤❤🐾🐾❤❤
How interesting to learn about the quills. Appreciate your educating on their quills. Chonkers is looking so well. Love the Chonkers boy.❤
Thankful he’s doing well!
He looks as though he's doing much better. Very sleek & sassy! Interesting about the quills - thank you!
He's still limping a bit. His leg is pretty stiff.
Bless his heart, he's still hurting, and I'd say the cold only makes it worse. Very thankful you & the vets were able & willing to help him! 🙏
@@joels7605 Could that be the cold aggravating it?
@@joels7605 After he leaves his warm den for the cold walk to your house, the cold probably contributes to the leg's stiffness. May be a little arthritis in there too. I wonder if he'd like some avocado for its healing oils.
He looks so well!!! So lovely to see. 🦔🦔🦔🦔
Mr Chonkers is looking great, he loves being with you both and thank you for that very interesting explanation of their quills!! ❤❤❤❤
Glad he came back after release❤❤❤
Me too. We were so worried.
❤ Chonkers: The Porcupine's Ambassador to Humans.
(Quill Buddies! I love it! Kinda sounds like a spin of PenPals!) ❤️🦔😘🥰
He looks great so round and healthy!!😊🫶
Chonkers!! Good to see you sweetie. You tuck into that meal and keep your strength up!! ❤❤❤
Chonkers ♥
Interesting! Thx!
It’s amazing that he’s still so calm after what he’s been through. You must give out very calm and loving vibes (and peanuts!😂)
And even MORE peanuts. 🥜🥜🥜
It is so good to see Chonkers again being a regular porcupine, munching away with seemingly no cares in the world. Munch munch munch!
He's here right now! Just munching away in the front hallway.
Thanks for the information! I didn't know which were guard hairs and which were quills. It's also very interesting that his back quills are hidden under his winter fur.
Good ol' Chonkers. Big Hugs
As I'm from England I know very little about these cute critters. Thank you, I'm enjoying learning about them.
I'm from England too. Arn't they just the cutest!🦔
Beautiful Chonkers is a big egg shaped fluffy ball❤. He must really trust you, as usually when you stand behind an animal they can get quite spooked❤
He is magnificent! ❤
💝💝
Very informative!
Thank you for that lesson; I found it very interesting! I so want to pet your porcupines! ❤
I like, when there's also a story. Interesting!
Yay, Chonkers ❤😊😊😊 ❤
Aww, this is so profoundly sweet to see and hear Chonkers happily munching away. I flashed back to when he was in the hospital and how he cried when he saw you both. He seems to be such an old wise soul. He is so happy to be home again. What a treat for all of us to know he is well and visiting you often again. The most prayed-over porcupine ever. This is so good to learn about their quills and fur. I always thought they 'shot' their quills out before so this is good to know. Thank you.
"business area of porcupine" 😂
It's very interesting, thank you!
Very informative! Also, he is so delightfully round ❤
He is delightful! But if you want round you should see Chestnut. She's positively spherical.
Chonkers is so sweet and fluffy. Hope you all stay warm during this polar vortex.
Squeak spits just like her dad! 😊
Really!!!
Agree
Thanks for the lesson in porcupine anatomy, I actually learned a lot. Glad to see Mr. Chonkers is doing so well
Thank you! Very interesting. I had no idea that his back had hidden quills under the fur. I was wondering why their backs seem unguarded. Great information on a fascinating creature. Love your channel! ❤❤❤
In a couple months, he'll shed his winter coat and then those quills will be easier to see. He's very fluffy right now.
Me too 😊
So glad to see him bet he’s so happy to be back home ❤❤❤
Thank you for the lesson! 👍 Porcupine Quills 101 🤣 Chonkers looks fantastic 🤩💕 So happy he is doing so well 💜
Thanks for the info. We may start to recognize him from the description. Chonkers at least for now! Keep that nice disposition, Chonkers!!!😂
I agree with Pearl !
We will be able to start recognizing who is who between all the cute porcupines from the info. you gave us. So thanks for that! And it's nice to see cute little Chonkers! ❤
His munching sounds are so cute
What a fascinating porcupine lesson. I'm so pleased to see Chonkers looking wonderfully fit and healthy, and fat, munching away while you used him to demonstrate the parts of a porcupine that are most dangerous - so basically their quills are for defence above all rather than aggression, it seems. And they are all such individual personalities. Thank you for all your time and trouble, both looking after them so wonderfully and telling us about them.
I wrote my comment and it disappeared the first hour. I don't remember what I said. Thank you for the tour of Chonkers' body and quills. I learned a lot. I want to pet Chonkers soft belly. Love you Chonkers and I am so happy to see you visiting the house, eating, and warming up. You are such a sweetheart. 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
I'm sorry about that. UA-cam deletes my comments all the time, and it's my own channel. I wish I had a better answer.
You are getting to be an expert. Pretty soon we’ll start calling you “the porcupine whisperer” 😅😊
Didn't the channel used to be called ' The Porcupine Whisperer' ? 🤔
It did! Then Suzannah Johnson called our house an "Unhinged Menagerie" one day and I thought it was hilarious.
@joels7605 Thought so! Didn't think that I had imagined it.🙃
I was wondering how/why the name changed but never thought to ask. Now I know.🦔🤗
Love you Chonkers ❤
Thank you Chonkers for being such a great model for the lecture today 😊
You may be big, but you’re still really cute too 💙
Bravo, sir 👏🏼
That was great! I know there are a lot of scientific terms to describe some of the anatomy of the NA Porcupine, but overall, very accurate & informative!
If I may add to some of the stuff you have said, nothing wrong, just an addendum.
It is a lot easier to see what Joel means in terms of the “rosette” of the NA Porcupine if you look at a picture of either the Cape Porcupine or the African Crested Porcupine, though Old World & New World porcupines are *not* closely related.
There are a lot of videos out there where you can see either a Cape or African Crested Porcupine being chased by a leopard & they have their quills up in a “crest”. That’s the same general idea of the rosette in the NA Porcupine. You can see how they purposely turn their back sides toward the predator & back straight into them to dislodge their quills. Once the leopard has had enough or is really hurt, the porcupine then saunters away!
The parents will also keep their porcupettes in the centre while the parents turn their backs out to form like a “shield” to protect them.
Quills generally have a banded pattern, so it’s an alternating black & white along the shaft. Quills are also barbed at the tips, which helps it anchor into the predator’s flesh & it actually keeps going deeper as time goes on. Each quill is associated with an arrector pili muscle, it operates by same principle as humans & goosebumps.
Also, quills are hollow, which allows for more flexibility & the bonus is- it makes them great swimmers, despite their short little legs!
Thanks for jumping in. Also I am far from an expert, so if I said anything wrong feel free to correct me. I'd hate to spread bad info about our little buddies.
I read somewhere that the quills had antibiotic properties, which protects the porkies when they get quilled. True?
@@sharim Yes, it sure is! The quills are modified hairs with a hard layer of keratin on the exterior. The quills have some fatty acids that coats each individual quill & it’s the fatty acids that contain antimicrobial properties. I believe there was a study that came out to say that the fatty acids inhibit gram-positive bacteria but not gram-negative
@@JudesChan Amazing what nature does! If we could just learn from it, life would be that much sweeter!
@ No doubt, we can *_a lot!_*
I should also add, on the studies that show the antimicrobial properties of their quills, it also mentioned that the researcher also examined 30-50 skeletal remains of porcupines & found many healed fractures. The way I read it, it seemed like the researcher was alluding to the antimicrobial properties of quills _also_ helped in the healing fractures, but obviously can’t state it as fact yet.
Those quills mean business. Chonkers just enjoying his snacks, but....I wouldn't want to annoy him. Thanks for the quill tour!
I think its so awesome that they know you are their food provider and caretaker. Even though they are still wild. Wonder if they "tell" others about you........😂❤😊
I know it would make me feel so good to see them on the regular, it has to make you feel good too.
Chonkers has a very handsome tail❗
Those guardhairs on his head remind me of 'curb feelers' that cars had in the 50s(?). Or picture a cat with whiskers all-over their heads.
Good to see Mr Chonkers ❤❤❤❤thanks for the information on porcupine Anatomy 💜💜💜💜💜💜
I love these little buddies 😍 !!!!!
Seriously porcupines are awesome!!!
Chonkers is like, you talk & I eat... Cool? Some interesting porcupine info which I never know before.
We tried it the other way around but it didn't work.
Those hairs may be an aid as he walks through the dark. He can sense his surroundings using them, just like cats use their whiskers. Very efficient and effective in low light situations.
Very interesting he has put so much weight on and looks very healthy,you are very good people and look after them all so well they have tails that look the same as beavers are they related and do they like the snow🌨❤🌨
Chonkers is a big handsome boy. Thanks for the info.❤❤❤❤❤❤
In this area you can see ...:)
They know you're safe. Thank you. Chonkers is looking very healthy.
Thank you for the information on their quills.
FINALLY!! For once the hooman has only nice things to say, and no derogatory comments about Chonkers, et al (e.g. "you smell!") 😇
(hooman:) "Each one of the porcupines is quite different." -- Chonkers thinking: "Duh, each one of the hoomans is quite different..." 🥰
Ha! Love it!
Thanks for you lesson, I wonder where they was 😄
Chonkers!! What a sweet boy, I am so glad he is doing so well and doesn’t have a grudge or fear after everything. Btw why did you name him Chonkers? I am assuming it’s because he is chonky but he doesn’t seem that big, is he bigger than the others?
Thanks for the video about the quills it was a lot of info I didn’t know and was very interested in it all!
Chestnut is a bit bigger, but we met Chonkers first. Also, we'd only been interacting with Quilbert and Prickly as babies before Chonkers arrived, so we were amazed at how much bigger an adult was. We did get a few comments from the rehabbers about how they were impressed that he weighed in at nearly 25 pounds on arrival.
@@Forest_FriendWow he weighs more than my fat pug! She’s 23 lbs (vet says she is fine, not obese, just a pug) so he IS a BIG boy! It is impressive that Chestnut is even bigger than him, I wonder how much she weighs. In any case I think the name Chonkers is adorable and perfect for him.
@@Forest_Friend Since the quills are hollow, all his weight is actual ‘porcupine’, not his coat or quills. A porcu-fact I found particularly interesting was that since the quills are hollow, they are buoyant in water, which helps the porcupines float. I just couldn’t imagine one of these huge, waddling porkies swimming, but I guess they do. Have you guys ever seen one swimming?
Awe glad hes back!!! Thanks for the education. Odd he picks the skin off apples. I saw Rico eating popcorn in a video.
That was so interesting thank you and thank you to Chonkers for being such a good porcupine 🫶
He is a very good porcupine.
Incredibly interesting! Thank you for the body tour. I am left wondering how this "porcupines in da house" odyssey began.
Weirdly, I think it all started because of a groundhog, Harley. He showed up on the deck super skinny, scarfing down birdseed. So we gave him a peanut butter sandwich, and from there Harley got pretty friendly, to the point we let him visit inside the house. There were places like the doorway that he'd rub his face on. A lot of the porcupines sniff the same spots and will also rub their faces on it. So, I don't know exactly what Harley "wrote" on the door, but it seems like he left a glowing review.
Some porcupines started hanging around in the yard, then on the deck, then Forest Friend told me to not let them in the house, then I let Quilbert in the house.
@@joels7605😂
@joels7605 My thanks to both you & Forest Friend for being so kind to God's little creatures. Thanks as well for being both entertaining and humorous to God's bigger creatures who are ruining the planet.
Your knowledge is appreciated ❤❤❤
I sent Joel a picture of Frankie, our local HOA "friendly gator" by his usual HOA retention pond, relaxing on shore, catching rays in our FREEZIN' 51 degrees Florida weather!! You have idea how cold it is!!! 🤐
Chonkers was a very helpful porcupine anatomy assistant. That’s interesting those guard hairs are soft and more like whiskers. The predators probably don’t know that but they still look menacing
Thank you for the Porcupine Quillogy lesson. Great seeing him in the house so comfortable. I'm sure his leg must still be bothering him a bit, especially in the cold. Is his tooth regrowing?
We haven't really been able to see his teeth yet. We'll give it a few months and see if it comes back.
Hopefully it will. Thank-you for answering.
Porcupine quills are actually modified hairs. So when they "fluff up" their quills, it is kind of the equivalent of hair standing on end (like when a cat fluffs up its hair).
❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thank you for this! Super interesting. I love that Chonkers is so docile with you guys. I hope he isn't still in pain...
This is a much needed distraction today. Many of us are spiraling in the country south of you. 😢
Beautiful Chonkers. Im glad he is well. [^^
Me too!
Does Chonkers still have a limp.
Unfortunately he does.
Quills 101
"Chonkers defensive area" -- What football defensive position does Chonkers play, and will he enter the college football transfer portal looking for Big Bucks ($$$)??? 🥰
Do they continually grow? Do they comeback? Do they fall out as time goes by and then get replaced ? Are they like our figernails and need to be worn down by rubbing up against stuff (like a cat claws furneture, etc.) How do porcupine's relate to each other (not mating) - do they lift up their head and front paws to greet each other or nuzzle each other somehow side by side low-ly? Are their teeth always growing so they need to always be chomping like some animals.
I have been around house cats and outside cats and kind of learned their body language - or tail language per se.
I don't know all the answers, but I'm gonna give it a shot. From what I gather, their quills are essentially very thick hairs. They definitely shed them. We were finding so many on the deck in the spring, but they occasionally lose them year round. I think they must get replaced, also like hair, because procupines who get mange lose their quills (and fur) but can regrow and be released.
Their greetings seem to be more vocal than touch. Spike and Squeak would call out to each other when they were looking for each other. Some of them sort of softly say, "moop moop" when they see us (might be a greeting, or might be begging for food, or something else.) We also noticed with some of them, if we call out "Goodnight" when they're leaving, they "Moop moop" back. When Chonkers is courting, he has a song that starts on a high note, and goes down. When Chestnut has had enough of his singing, she sometimes replies in what I can best describe as an old timey mobster voice: "Myeh!" Minor disagreements over which peanuts belong to whom go back and forth and sound almost exactly like Minecraft villagers.
They're rodents, so I think their front teeth are always growing.
For their body language, the angle of the quills says a LOT. But they also emit a smell when they're stressed (kind of like pine trees if they could go bad) and they'll chatter their teeth too.
Thanks that is very interesting!
I read that the quills, like other hair, do grow back.
If my friends ask me what I’ve been up to, I can always cite new and exciting porcu-facts, tho I’m no expert like Dr Joel. Speaking of which, will there be a ‘Quill Quiz’?
Chonkers just looks like a giant fuzzball, a dangerous giant fuzzball. I want to cuddle him so badly. It's okay, I am tattooed, he can just give me more tattoos with his quills. lol Also thanks for the class on porcupines quills. ❤
You could get a porcupine tattoo of static.
@ That's actually a great idea. 🤔
ty
Do you work in the science field at all or just happen to live in the most amazing spot?
We're just hermits in the middle of the woods. Our jobs are science-adjacent, but not directly science related.
@joels7605 I had wondered if it was detectable who fathered offspring by quill patterns.
@@thepunpolice11 We've tried to find a pattern but so far haven't been able to.
@joels7605 that would make them too cooperative. Lol
My theory is they are wealthy eccentric inventors who live on land they inherited from their wealthy eccentric grandfather. They continue to invent things so fantastic we cannot even imagine.
The photo with the goggles is wonderful to stir the imagination. 😂
This was so much more interesting then the Trump inauguration! 😊😊😊
And far less scary, even with the quills.
I wonder if the Porcupine Camp might be hiring? I could easily be head of Peanut Distribution, or Sweet Potato Skinner, or even Quill-Picker-Outer? Any thoughts, guys? I’d work for room-and-board-just throw some peanuts my way….
Cutest animals have the deadliest or most painful defenses so you cant hug or pet them.
I’ll take Chonkers over any president b.s any-day😂
Or will Chonkers skip college and enter the NFL Draft!?!! 🥰
That back end is the worst essential oil diffuser ever.
That's hilarious.
Lol!
the wildlife seems used to humans, there must have been other people here before you who set the ground work for peaceful co-existence.
We're way out in the middle of the woods. These little guys probably don't have many opportunities to meet other people. They just saw the groundhog and other critters coming up for a snack and decided that it was a safe place to be.
@@joels7605 I like to think kindness is widespread
@ I would like to believe that. Poor little Chonkers just got back from 6 weeks of rehabilitation because someone shot him.
@@joels7605 yeah I'm glad you posted it all on the web, I hope whomever did that rethinks his/her attitude to wildlife, they know how much Chonkers is loved now. Hope springs eternal.
Thank you for the tutorial! I've been wondering how you tell them apart and how you differentiate males and females. Chonkers is such a sweet porcupine. 🤎
quit teasing, pet him