Prepare to be mesmerized by Snickers the porcupine

My first porcupine-in-the-wild setting happened at our home upstate. Several years ago, Brendan and I were standing in our kitchen, and I noticed a huge brown mass way up high in a white pine tree. After much research that mainly consisted of staring until it moved, we realized it was a porcupine. And then we noticed another. And another. They were everywhere!

And how did they hide right in front of us? During the day, they are nearly motionless, napping, their little limbs splayed out over a tree branch. Except for the babies. The following summer, we saw babies galore, active during the day, chomping down on baby leaves and walking down the street (eeek).

While we love having them around — who cares if they eat our tree bark?! — they don’t add a ton of personality to the place. They’re the quiet background animals, balancing out the mischievous groundhog, the feisty chimpunks and red squirrels, and the ever-frantic hummingbirds.

And then I found out about Snickers! He’s a resident of the Animal Wildlife Conservation Center, and he’s a bit of a YouTube star. I’ll never look at our porcupines the same: