‘Prickly visitor’ clinging to railing at Alaska national park has rangers myth busting
Park rangers had to contend with a persistent, prickly critter trying to access the visitor’s center of a national park in Alaska.
A porcupine clung to a railing outside the visitor center at Katami National Park & Preserve. “I’m gonna need to speak to the ranger,” National Park Service officials wrote on a Facebook post where they shared a photo of the “prickly visitor.”
Officials shared six funny and cute porcupine facts with their Facebook followers.
“A porcupine, aka Needle Beaver, has approximately 30,000 quills on its body. (Not a hugger. We repeat. Not. A. Hugger),” they wrote. In the same sentence, they urged people not to try to lick them either, referring back to a previous post urging people not to lick psychedelic frogs to hallucinate.
Officials also busted some myths and misconceptions about the barbed creatures.
“Porcupines cannot throw their quills. Don’t get us wrong, they may throw some sassy barbs (Porcupines are vocal critters and create a wide array of verbal cues, including shrill screeches, coughs, groans, whines, passive aggressive insults, teeth chatters, and witty barbs.) but alas, no quill launching.”
Officials added that sometimes loose quills will fall out before it strikes, which can make it look as though they’re shooting them out, hence the myth.
“The most popular porcupine hobby is needlepoint,” officials joked.
They’re also “slow pokes” and can only travel a maximum speed of 2 miles per hour. “Seems fine to us,” park service officials wrote.
Like skunks, porcupines also have a “strong odor” to warn off predators and can increase the stink when agitated.
“The smell has been described as similar to strong human body odor, goats, or some cheeses,” officials said.
Babies are called “porcupettes,” officials said.
Katami National Park & Preserve where the porcupine was spotted is in southern Alaska, about 300 miles southwest of Anchorage.
Weird-looking ‘puppy’ seen in upstate New York turned out to be an albino porcupine
Dog dies after backyard fight with porcupine. ‘I could hear him crying,’ family says
Protective moose gets stabbed with porcupine quills while defending calf in Colorado
