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#WorldCoatiDay: a South American Coati in Louis XIV’s royal menagerie!
1. Pieter Boel (Flemish, 1622-1674), Fouine et Coati, c.1669-71, oil on canvas
2. Detail of the same coati (with African Crested Porcupine) in a tapestry: The Months or the Royal Houses, July, Vincennes; Charles Le Brun (designer) and Gobelins Factory (manufacturer), France, c.1676-80 (Boel’s studies were used as models for the animals in these tapestries)
[id: a light brown userbox with a brown border and brown text that reads “this user is a porcupine.” on the left is an image of an african crested porcupine. /end id]
so, crested porcupines are a lot of the time deemed dangerous animals by people who dont know a lot about them, but they're actually huge sweethearts. they're just nervous about new things a lot of the time.
all porcupines are reactive creatures, so they're docile when they're not being messed with. there are no porcupine attacks, just defenses. if you get quilled, it's 9 times out 10 your fault. but when they feel safe, they're really sweet animals!
crested porcupines are quite social and like to cuddle and groom each other. some porcupines even like to be picked up and held! though it depends on their personality. in the wild, crested porcupines live in family groups and have one mate for their whole life. a lot of them respond to being petted by someone they trust by licking your hand, for example. it's like their way of petting you back (my cat does this!)
porcupines are also very food motivated. when given a snack, they'll hold it on the ground between their paws and munch on it. if you get too close to them while they're chowing down, they might raise their quills and turn away as if to say "back off, this is my food!"
sometimes when a porcupine is mad/nervous/unsure, they'll raise their quills and stomp their feet (i find this particularly cute.) the stomping thing is probably similar to a warning, like "i'm really going to do it! if you don't quit messing with me i'm really going to make you regret it!" though their little feet stomps are more cute than anything. they're throwing little hissy fits.
as babies, or porcupettes, crested porcupines are little balls of energy. they need to eat and run around a lot. there are videos online of porcupettes running around and 'popcorning' to expend energy. they just can't sit still, unless they're eating or napping.
as for touching a crested porcupine, it's actually much safer to pet them than most other porcupines in the world! unlike the prehensile-tailed porcupine (the ones with the pig noses,) crested porcupines actually have about an even split of quills and regular fur, so it's okay for you to rub their heads, sides, bellies, limbs, and chests without getting a quill or two! even if you do pet the quilly areas, as long as you go with the grain of their quills you won't get hurt. honestly, the tail quills are the ones you should worry most about.
in case you couldn't tell, i really love porcupines...
- shared a 50oz cherry margarita at our favorite mexican restaurant (then went to do inventory out our restaurant…i took a nap on our couch in the front once we closed lol)
- bought a couple more plants someone stop us
- repotted two plants!
- took photos at Lowe’s and used them for a class project. the teacher asked if she could use them for the example pictures for future classes :)
- began messing with the podcasting equipment 💃🏻 it’s almost time for me to release an episode!
- we got to pet an african crested porcupine and then i got to interview the Tanganyika employee after!
- i have three printed articles this week :D
- he helped me deliver the newspapers at 5:30 this morning and does every thursday 🥰 🗞️
Fact from the African Wildlife Foundation: The word porcupine means “quill pig” in Latin; however, porcupines are large rodents and have no relation to pigs. Porcupines are the largest and heaviest of all African rodents. The head is roundish and rather domed, with a blunt muzzle and small eyes and ears. The legs are short and sturdy, and each foot has five toes, all equipped with powerful claws. Their most recognizable feature is, of course, its quills. Quill length varies on different parts of the body, ranging from 2.5 to 30.5 centimeters (1 to 12 inches). Usually, the quills lie flat against the body, but if danger threatens, they raise and spread them. Scales on quill tips lodge in the skin like fishhooks and are difficult to pull out. New quills grow in to replace lost ones.