rkay wrote : Porcupines I understood to be much larger, with very long quills, that they can bristle at you threateningly and even ? shoot at you. Decidedly undocile.
Ohmygoodness, porcupines seem to be getting a bad rap! They are indeed large and can shoot those long quills quite a distance.
(As anyone who has ever rushed their dog to the Vet to have the quills removed from the dog's curious nose can attest.)
How-some-ever, in general, porcupines are rather shy and tend to run away ... I have a porcupine who visits my yard occasionally on a summer evening and when I turn on the exterior lights "Pete the Porci" lumbers away!
If you persist in annoying them, porcupines give you warning. If come upon in the twilit woods, my little pal, Pete, sort of stands still to give you a chance to back off. (it is his living room after all.) But if you come upon a porcupine and annoy them they turn their back to you and ... LOOK OUT!
I'm sure any Zoologist can give you more scientific information but Pete and I have a modus vivendi that seems to work. Perhaps Pete is more used to having people invade his woodsy environs ???
wow