"THE CASE OF THE VANISHING PORCUPINE, A MOTHER NATURE'S MYSTERY"

PORCUPINE (NORTH AMERICAN) - 3 Photos

I think most of us have heard of "the pub quiz", well this is "the porcupine quiz".

This porcupine will feature in tomorrow's Photo of the Week. However, in the interim, there was a moment that I caught on camera while the porcupine was doing its antics in the tree.

The tree where the porcupine was hanging out was right next to a paved path in a park. It was truly enjoying the Spring sunshine (as will be demonstrated tomorrow). However, at one point, the porcupine decided to slide back into the crevice of the tree trunk. It disappeared into the trunk, somehow righted itself within the crevice and crawled back out for some more sunshine. 

That's when I left and a short time later, returned with a friend who had only just seen the porcupine hanging out. And NO PORCUPINE. There are no other trees even close to this one and the surrounding area is bounded by a well used paved path and an open meadow, partially covered in snow. Not somewhere a porcupine would be heading if it had climbed down on a busy afternoon. 

My theory is that porcupine crawled along like this, righted itself within the crevice and disappeared into the trunk for a nap, which would not take that long. This may explain the strange positioning of the porcupine as it approached the hole.

Here are three photos. The first is as it was shot, with a bit of cropping.

As I had some difficulty in determining which end was up (so to speak), I over lighted it to see the shadows more clearly and what parts of the porcupine were in the crevice (2nd Photo).

In the third photo, I have "marked" what I believe are the facial features and paws of the porcupine.

What does everyone think?

PHOTO #1

PHOTO #2

PHOTO #3