I’ve only been to Discovery Wildlife Park once this year for a print delivery and didn’t have time to take any photos, so spending a few hours there last week was nice.
I’m always grateful to hang out with and shadow my zookeeper friends Serena and Belinda. They’re so generous with their time, allowing me to see behind the scenes. I can’t always share those experiences, but since they’ve now introduced this little guy online, I can reveal photos of one of their newest rescues, a porcupette (that’s what you call baby porcupines) they named Velcro.
Velcro’s Mom was a road casualty, and they suspect he might have been attached to her when it happened. When surrendered to the park, his eyes were scabbed over, and his nose and muzzle abraded. His nose is still healing, but he’s coming along nicely.
While porcupines don’t shoot their quills, a common myth, they will detach easily to embed in a predator’s skin, an effective deterrent. Velcro’s quills feel like soft hair, as long as you pet with the grain. I made the mistake of moving my hand back before lifting and found that out the hard way. Serena laughed and said, “You can only pet a porcupine in one direction.”
We took him out to the grass for a bit, and I got some lovely photos. A few of them are downright comical and will make wonderful painting reference. I mentioned I have long wanted to paint a porcupine but have never gotten the proper reference.
After I watched them feed Velcro, Serena told me to go with Belinda in the golf cart and to bring my camera. She wouldn’t tell me where I was going, but after collecting fresh branches from a treed area on the property, we delivered them to Zipper, their adult porcupine. I didn’t even know they had one, likely because I’m usually hyper-focused on the bears.
It was a hot day, and Zipper wasn’t especially active, so I don’t think I got the best reference from which to paint an adult porcupine, but at least I know where to go for some great opportunities in the future.
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